Public protector to oppose review of CIEX report

Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is reportedly planning to oppose a judicial review of her Absa CIEX report. The report looked into the bailout granted by the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) to Absa.

Mkhwebane had recommended that parliament amend the constitution for the Reserve Bank to protect citizens, which she said it had failed to do when it bailed out Bankorp.

“The allegation whether the South African government and the Reserve Bank improperly failed to recover from Bankorp Limited/Absa bank an amount of R3.2 billion cited on the CIEX report, owed as a result of an illegal gift given to Bankorp Limited/Absa bank between 1986 and 1995, is substantiated,” Mkhwebane told a media briefing in Pretoria last month.

“The correct amount of the illegal gift granted to Bankorp Limited/Absa bank is in the amount of R1.125 billion.”

She said the failure by government to recover misappropriated public funds as recommended in the CIEX report, known as Project Spear, was inconsistent with duties imposed by section 195 of the Constitution, which requires high standards of professional ethics.

Following the report, Sarb, Absa, parliament and Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said they would challenge the report.

Mkhwebane said the remedial actions had been misunderstood, arguing she did not, in any way, amend the constitution or violate the parliamentary process by making the proposal to amend the South African Reserve Bank’s mandate to focus on growth, eNCA has reported.

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