Cyril Ramaphosa knew about VBS looting, ‘and did nothing’ – report

President Cyril Ramaphosa allegedly knew about the widespread corruption and graft at embattled VBS Mutual Bank but didn’t take any action for an uncomfortably long time, according to a report in City Press.

The paper reports that a major VBS shareholder briefed Ramaphosa, who was at the time deputy president, about the looting that was taking place at VBS last year. The source alleges Ramaphosa said he would do something out the situation, but subsequently nothing happened.

“I know that the shareholder met with Ramaphosa, who was not president at the time. The shareholder briefed him about the outrageous corruption at VBS,” a source close to the shareholder is quoted as saying.

“During the meeting, Cyril apparently raised serious concerns about VBS. He promised to do something about it,” another source said.

Presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko told City Press there was no record of a meeting between Ramaphosa and a VBS shareholder.

VBS Bank has been at the centre of a storm of controversy since last Wednesday when a report commissioned by Treasury called The Great Bank Heist was released. The report looked into the looting that occurred at the bank and implicates more than 50 people who “gratuitously” received money from VBS.

On Saturday The ANC said it had written to its Integrity Commission referring to the report on the alleged multibillion-rand fraud at VBS Mutual Bank. The party said it expects to meet next week about the report and the cases of leaders and members implicated in or accused of wrongdoing.