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Standard Bank punishes employee for jumping Gupta gun

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The Standard Bank building in Cape Town. Picture: iStock
The Standard Bank building in Cape Town. Picture: iStock

Standard Bank has instituted disciplinary proceedings against an employee who had offered to reopen bank accounts for Gupta companies currently under business rescue.

On Monday,the business rescue practitioners Louis Klopper and Kurt Knoop told creditors of smaller Gupta companies at a series of meetings that Standard Bank had agreed to open transactional accounts for all the companies. The two rescue practitioners had been appointed to save eight Gupta companies.

However, on Tuesday, at far larger meetings for creditors of the Optimum Coal mine, the two had to backtrack.

“Standard Bank asked for more information,” said Knoop when asked from the floor about the previous day’s announcement. They were in negotiations with the bank, he now said.

Standard Bank had declined to confirm or deny anything on Monday, but on Tuesday said that the employee that had communicated with Knoop and Klopper “was acting out of mandate”.

Standard Bank said in a message that its decision to cut ties with the Gupta family in April 2016 “still stands and has not been reviewed”.

“Standard Bank of South Africa Limited has not opened and will not open accounts with these companies. Any impression created to the contrary was created by an employee that was acting out of mandate,” said Standard Bank spokesperson Ross Lindstrom.

“Communication between the employee and the business rescue practitioner was not authorised and did not follow the internal processes of the bank. Disciplinary procedures are currently under way.”


Dewald van Rensburg
Business journalist
City Press
p:0117139001
w:www.citypress.co.za  e: dewald.vrensburg@citypress.co.za
      
 
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