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At least three banks are set to testify at the commission of inquiry into state capture this week about why they closed the accounts of the Gupta family and their companies.
The banks cut ties with the Guptas, citing suspicious transactions and regulatory risks.
The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) red-flagged at least 72 transactions worth R6.8 billion which served “no apparent business or lawful purpose”.
On Monday, Standard Bank is expected to reveal what transpired during the months before the accounts were closed.
Banking sources told City Press that Absa would testify on Tuesday, followed by Nedbank.
The banks’ submissions, they said, would be similar to those submitted before the High Court in Pretoria in March last year, when then finance minister Pravin Gordhan asked the court for an order declaring that he could not intervene in the relationship between the banks and their clients.
“The commission will have the opportunity to engage the banks about the nature of the transactions that raised alarms about possible money laundering, which led to the closure of the accounts,” said one source.
Commission spokesperson Mbuyiselo Stemela said Nedbank would appear on Wednesday.
Absa spokesperson Songezo Zibi said the bank was “cooperating with the commission ... in line with its powers and terms of reference”.
In court papers filed last year, Standard Bank group counsel Ian Sinton told of a meeting at Luthuli House with former ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, his deputy Jessie Duarte, and the party’s economic transformation head Enoch Godongwana, at which the bank was allegedly pressurised to reverse its decision to close the Guptas’ accounts.
At the meeting, the bank’s former chief executive Sim Tshabalala was allegedly accused of “colluding with monopoly capital to oppress a black-owned business”.
A month later, the bank was allegedly pressurised again at an inter-ministerial committee meeting attended by ministers Mildred Oliphant, Mosebenzi Zwane and ministerial advisor and Gupta ally Mzwanele Manyi.
Sinton said it appeared that those in power “wanted to secure an outcome favourable to Oakbay”.
In another affidavit filed last year, Nedbank attached a letter sent to the Guptas’ Oakbay Investments in April 2016, in which Nedbank executive Sandile Shabalala wrote that the bank believed that “any continued relationship with Oakbay ... may create material business risks that could pose significant reputational risk to Nedbank, and, as such, we are unfortunately not prepared to continue our banking relationship”.
The bank gave the Guptas 30 days to find another bank. This week, Nedbank is expected to tell the commission what these risks were.
The affidavit from Absa’s former compliance head, Yasmin Masithela, which was handed to the commission, stated that the bank had to abide by the law and that “there was also evidence of large unexplained transfers of funds between Oakbay companies and related parties, and to other banks”.
