FIC confirms that giving banking details to public protector is lawful

According to a statement released on Wednesday by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), the information provided to the office of the public protector in her investigation into donations made to President Cyril Ramaphosa CR17 ANC leadership campaign was lawful.

The body insists that it was mandated in law to assist the public protector with information when she requested it.

“The FIC wishes to state emphatically that the information provided to the office of the public protector was both obtained and disseminated lawfully in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act,” read part of the statement.

“The FIC does not control how the legislated authorities handle the information received from the FIC during the course of their investigation,” added the body.

In addition, the FIC said that it was monitoring the legal fight between Ramaphosa and Mkhwebane and it would seek permission to intervene in the case if the need arose.

The statement was issued in response to allegations levelled against the FIC by Ramaphosa’s lawyers, who accused the body of breaking the law by being so freewheeling with SA banks’ private client information after they provided Mkhwebane with two years’ worth of bank statements.

According to Ramaphosa’s lawyers, the FIC is legally only allowed to have access to banks’ private client information for the purposes of combating financial crimes.

Mkhwebane went on to use the bank statements provided as the basis for her finding that there was evidence of money laundering by the CR17 campaign in a report that was being challenged on judicial review.

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(Compiled by Kaunda Selisho)

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