Reserve Bank alleges Public Protector plotted with Presidency to undermine the Bank
In court papers, the Bank questions the possible involvement of the SSA, and says the probe failed to disclose a meeting in Zuma’s office
The Reserve Bank alleges that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane colluded with the Presidency to attack the central bank two weeks before she released her controversial report calling for the amendment of the Bank’s constitutional mandate and the recovery of an apartheid-era bail-out to Bankorp. The Bank’s general counsel, Johannes de Jager, filed a supplementary affidavit on Monday with new grounds for reviewing certain aspects of the report, arising from previously confidential notes of the public protector’s meeting with the Presidency’s legal advisers. Dated June 7 and attached to De Jager’s affidavit, the notes show Mkhwebane discussed reopening the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU’s) prior probe into the Bankorp issue — which found that the funds could not be recovered without risks to the financial system. “The Public Protector was not frank about disclosing the fact of this meeting in the report,” said De Jager. “This is a glaring omission.” According to the notes of the m...
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