Three more persons arrested in VBS Mutual Bank scandal
At least R200-million of municipal coffers was invested into the defunct bank, but the money was never paid back to the municipality.
Three more persons were arrested in the ongoing VBS Mutual Bank scandal at their Pretoria residences on Wednesday morning.
According to Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Nomthandazo Mbambo, they were a 57-year-old former municipal manager, a 39-year-old chief financial officer at the Fetakgomo-Greater Tubatse municipality and a 41-year-old private business owner.
“The allegations in this matter were reported and opened for contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 Act no. 56 of 2003 for investing municipal funds with VBS Mutual Bank,” Mbambo said.
An investigation revealed that the Fetakgomo-Greater Tubatse local municipality invested R230-million.
She said the amount was paid in five trenches from November 15, 2016, to February 19, 2018.
“The amount invested was never paid back to the municipality,” Mbambo said.
The three were expected to appear in the Pretoria specialised commercial crimes court on charges of contravention of the municipal finance management act, corruption and money laundering on Wednesday.
The VBS Mutual Bank was placed into liquidation in November 2018 by the North Gauteng High Court after billions were allegedly stolen from the bank.
Since then, Anoosh Rooplal was appointed as the provisional liquidator by the master of the High Court.
His role was to recover the assets of the bank for the benefit of all of the bank’s creditors and then wind up the bank once all avenues have been exhausted to recover assets and pay the bank’s liabilities.
Thus far, around 14 people have been arrested and face more than 100 charges related to the bank’s demise.
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