VBS liquidators recover R159m and are on the hunt for more

The liquidation team of the defunct VBS Mutual Bank has recovered R159m to date, far less the R2bn siphoned from the bank.

With continued efforts to trace and reclaim the bank’s assets, the team said it was determined to make additional dividend payments to creditors, offering a glimmer of hope amid the financial scandal’s fallout.

VBS was placed into final liquidation in November 2018 by the high court in Johannesburg, with Anoosh Rooplal appointed as the liquidator. The liquidator’s main responsibility under the Insolvency Act is to locate and reclaim the bank’s assets for the benefit of all known creditors.

The first liquidation dividend of 7c was distributed to all proven concurrent creditors, with R110m set aside for the affected municipalities.

The concurrent creditors who lodged claims encompass 13 municipalities, various business depositors, retail depositors and supplier creditors. Retail creditors included those with claims exceeding R100,000, after the initial R100,000 was covered by the Reserve Bank guarantee through Nedbank, the team said.

In the fallout from the VBS scandal, Phillip Truter, the bank’s former CFO, was released on parole in April after serving three years and six months of his seven-year sentence. Truter pleaded guilty to charges including corruption, fraud, racketeering and money-laundering.

As part of the scheme, he created fictitious invoices credited to accounts of co-conspirators, which were then authorised for release by Phophi Mukhodobwane from the bank’s accounts into external bank accounts.

Tshifhiwa Matodzi, the former chair of VBS and a central figure in the scandal, started his 15-year jail sentence last week after pleading guilty to 33 counts, including corruption, theft, fraud, money-laundering and racketeering.

In his affidavit, Matodzi implicated the EFF’s top leaders, claiming the party received a R5m payment and R1m in monthly donations to stop its public criticism of the bank after it provided a R7.8m home loan to former president Jacob Zuma for his Nkandla residence.

Matodzi testified that he met EFF leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu in Sandton. He said the donations allegedly paid to the EFF were funnelled through a company owned by Shivambu’s brother. Matodzi alleged that Shivambu provided a VBS account in his brother’s company, Sgameka, to receive the payments, avoiding a direct link to the EFF.

Malema and Shivambu deny any wrongdoing. Malema previously questioned why no charges had been brought against them if the allegations were legitimate.

Legal expert Mashudu Kutama has emphasised that while Matodzi’s controversial affidavit is crucial for the investigation, the allegations must be tried in court, especially with potential documentary proof from bank statements.

“The affidavit is damning and important in the investigation of the VBS heist saga. Of course, most of the allegations are also contained in advocate Terry Motau’s report,” Kutama said.

Tested

“Like any piece of evidence, the allegations have to be tested in court. It may be easy with documentary proof arising from bank statements because the amounts mentioned would have possibly been transferred from VBS bank accounts to beneficiaries.”

He said Truter and Matodzi were just the tip of the iceberg, suggesting that many more, including high-ranking officials and board representatives, might still face legal consequences.

“There is still the CEO — most transactions were done by him — and of course [Public Investment Corporation] board representative on the VBS board. So, a lot more people are still to face the law.”

SA Communist Party (SACP) national chair Blade Nzimande has again denied allegations that the party benefited financially from VBS. His denial came after the former secretary of the SACP in Limpopo, Phatse Justice Piitso, called on the party to make a public apology and pay back the R3m it allegedly received from VBS.

The money was allegedly to settle a conference bill owed to the Birchwood Hotel in Kempton Park in 2017 through then Gauteng chair Jacob Mamabolo as previously reported.

goban@businesslive.co.za