DA warns ANC against protecting official implicated in VBS heist
At least three officials have been implicated in the scandal which saw R100 million of public funds siphoned off to the bank in return for kickbacks.
VBS Bank branding. Picture: Moneyweb
Heads must roll, demands the Democratic Alliance, while welcoming a Deloitte report fingering former West Rand District Municipality and Merafong Municipality accounting officer Romeo Mohaudi in making illegal investments with VBS Mutual Bank.
Mohaudi, an official who served as an accounting officer in both Gauteng municipalities, has been found to have broken the law, according to the forensic report.
The report was made public last week following cooperative governance MEC Lebohang Maile’s announcement that he had written to the West Rand District Municipality (WRDM) and the Merafong Municipality, instructing them to give reasons why heads should not roll following the findings.
In the report it was indicated that not only had the investments of over R100 million been illegal in terms of several laws governing municipalities, but at least three officials may have benefited from an alleged commission scheme in which the Limpopo-based bank allegedly gave kickbacks in return for the illegal transactions.
The DA has called for immediate action to be taken against Mohaudi and other implicated officials. They warned the ANC against evading justice by redeploying Mohaudi elsewhere.
“It is the illegal VBS investment and other similar convoluted financial schemes under the ANC that has caused these municipalities to be bankrupted.
“We will study the Deloitte report and decided on the appropriate action to take to ensure that justice is served to the residents of these municipalities who are suffering due to the nefarious activities of corrupt cadres,” the party said in a statement.
(Compiled by Gopolang Moloko)
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