SA’s banking sector has bowed to the Hawks’ request to arm its investigators with specialised skills as they go after money-launderers and other financial miscreants.
This is as the partnership between the government and big business to tackle crime and corruption, alongside fixing SA’s logistics and energy sectors, gathers steam.
The Banking Association SA — governed by a board comprising the CEOs of Nedbank, Absa, First National Bank, Standard Bank, Investec and Capitec — on Wednesday said the sector’s partnership with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) was at arm’s length. The three-way partnership includes the SA Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric).
Together, these bodies have formed an outfit called the Digital and Financial Forensic Analysis Centre.
Sabric CEO Nischal Mewalall said the centre existed to bolster the country’s capacity to probe financial crimes, using advanced digital and forensic analysis tools.
“The initiative was driven by a direct request from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation to the banking sector, making it essential for the sector to develop a solution to address the required intervention,” he said.
Independence
“Our view is that partnerships between business and government should not compromise the independence of either, instead it must allow responsible corporate citizens to contribute to building an effective public service that can help deliver prosperity for everyone.”
SA’s lax money-laundering regime was largely responsible for the country being greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) last year.
Among the FATF-recommended changes that can help SA get off the greylist is to develop policies that allow for better alignment of anti-financial crime measures with data protection and privacy rules.
Mewalall said the centre was designed to address the concerns raised by the FATF. Among other things, the centre provides training to investigators in financial forensic analysis and “state-of-the-art software and hardware — along with technical support — for use in the investigation of a broad spectrum of serious crime including money-laundering and terrorism”.
Nearly 800 law enforcement officials have already received training on how to peruse financial statements, sharpening their skills to follow the money where the evidence leads them.
About 70 Hawks have benefited from a 12-module specialised training course developed by the centre, covering areas such as digital and forensic investigations. Mewalall said the centre was “creating a pipeline for developing future digital and financial forensics experts”.
About 130 CEOs from SA’s largest companies last year signed a pledge to assist the government in tackling the country’s pressing issues, including crime and corruption, logistics and energy challenges.
Hawks boss Godfrey Lebeya said digital forensics played a crucial role in the investigations of organised crime.
Proficiency
The Banking Association SA in its 2023 annual report said the country’s banks would help increase the proficiency of the state for both the sector’s and the national interest.
One of the innovative steps the centre has come up with to assist the Hawks in investigating financial crimes effectively and swiftly is the launch of a digital service of section 205 subpoenas — which allow investigators the right to access information not in the public domain, such as banking records.
The digital service is being piloted in Gauteng.
“The Hawks in Gauteng are now connected to 11 banks via a secure communication network, enabling them to serve subpoenas electronically. Banks can acknowledge receipt and respond to information requests through the same platform, streamlining the process,” Mewalall said, adding the service will be rolled out to the eight other provinces next year.
“This development marks a milestone in the modernisation and digital transformation of investigative procedures. Most importantly, it reduces investigation timelines and facilitates faster prosecutorial decisions.”
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