MPs have questioned the integrity of the Reserve Bank’s decision not to make public its report that cleared President Cyril Ramaphosa of any exchange control violations in relation to the theft of dollars from his Phala Phala game farm.
MPs demanded to see the report on Wednesday, calling the Bank’s findings “a cover-up”, with the UDM’s Nqabayomzi Kwankwa stating that “usually when money is stuffed in a mattress, it is because there is something wrong.
“We need the report to test the [Bank’s] rationality and interpretation of the law. I mean we are dealing with a head of state that stuffed money in a mattress and kept the money there above the time allowed.”
Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago and his deputy governors appeared in parliament to provide feedback to the standing committee on finance on the Phala Phala findings and to explain the legal constraints placed on it by its mandate.
Investigation
The Bank, which cleared Ramaphosa of wrongdoing, had said earlier that its investigations found there was no “perfected transaction” and thus no contravention of the exchange control regulations by Ramaphosa or his entity, Ntaba Nyoni Estates.
It explained that because the sale of buffalo to Sudanese business person Hazim Mustafa — the source of the dollars — was never concluded as the animals were not delivered, there was no legal obligation on Ramaphosa or Ntaba Nyoni to declare the foreign currency under exchange control regulations.
EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu said the Bank acted “maliciously” in narrowing its investigations to look only at exchange control violations.
He said they should confirm that the foreign currency was not the proceeds of crime from money laundering.
Kganyago said the Bank took its mandate seriously.
“We cannot expand the scope of the investigation. Institutions that have stepped outside their mandate have been treated harshly by the courts,” Kganyago said. “We are not responsible for the ports of entry.”
The SA Revenue Service “has already pronounced on this. We do not have the power that customs officials have. It is not our responsibility.”
Kganyago told MPs the $580,000 in cash handed to a lodge manager in 2020 was a security deposit and not a final payment. He said the foreign currency was stolen before the conditions precedent to the sale transaction could be fulfilled.
Kganyago said that whether or not money-laundering was involved is something that could be looked into by the Hawks and the Financial Intelligence Centre, not the Reserve Bank.
The DA, EFF and UDM voiced their displeasure and said they would approach the courts on the matter.
“Governor Kganyago’s responses were evasive, incomplete and unconvincing,” the DA said in a statement. “The governor did, however, admit that the [Bank] had not seen any contract, other than an invoice, that outlined the conditions of the transaction in question, which raises doubts about the integrity of the investigation.”
The party vowed to pursue the matter, including to ascertain whether Ramaphosa broke any financial laws.
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