More charges and more accused in the dock soon for VBS scandal

More charges are on the cards for the now seven accused in the VBS Mutual Bank scandal.

They made a brief appearance before the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on Thursday morning, where the case was postponed to early January.

This for a variety of reasons – including for additional charges to be added as well as for additional accused to be arrested and join them in the dock.

In 2018, the South African Reserve Bank placed VBS under curatorship on the back of the liquidity crisis. A forensic investigation was instituted to establish exactly what had gone wrong.

Advocate Terry Motau SC’s ensuing 148-page report, titled “VBS Mutual Bank – The Great Bank Heist”, blew the lid on “a wide range of criminality in the conduct of the affairs of VBS” and recommended criminal charges be investigated.

The Hawks made their first arrests in the case in June, when they swooped on VBS executives Tshifhiwa Matodzi, Andile Ramavhunga and Phophi Mukhodobwane as well as non-executive directors at the bank Ernest Nesane and Paul Magula, both from Public Investment Corporation. Phalaphala Ramikosi, who was the police’s former chief financial officer (CFO), and former KPMG accountant Sipho Malaba were arrested at the same time.

Shortly afterwards, the bank’s former CFO, Philip Truter, was also nabbed.

But Truter has since struck a deal with the prosecution and he this week pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering, money laundering, tax evasion, fraud and corruption. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with three years suspended for five years.

In an emotional affidavit submitted to the court, Truter said becoming CFO had been a goal of his.

“Unfortunately I was too enthusiastic to obtain this position and I think that my eagerness in this could be seen from afar and was ultimately exploited in the worst possible manner,” he said.

“A big regret for me is the time I wasted by trying to advance the ideals of a select few individuals and in the process, I lost myself … I thought I was acting in the interest of my family to secure a future at the bank. However, I sacrificed and risked everything for a bunch of lies and deceit and because I felt entrapped.”

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