The former chief executive of Steinhoff, Markus Jooste. Picture Armand Hough/African News Agency (ANA)
National Treasury’s acting director-general Ismail Momoniat said that local authorities are trying everything in their power not to be grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) next year.
“I certainly have not given up and will fight to the fullest extent to prevent it. We are making significant and real progress with two Bills being finalised in parliament, which I believe will be passed before the end of the year,” he said at a press briefing prior to the medium-term budget policy statement.
There has been no indication yet of how the FATF would decide on grey-listing South Africa, but many industry players think it is as good as done because actions speak louder than words, and I’ve reported it as such in the recent past.
Over the past ten years, South Africa has arrested and convicted only one person for money laundering for example.
So, the South African Reserve Bank’s recent action of confiscating former Steinhoff CEO’s personal assets and that held in his personal capacity, in the Silveroak Trust, of which Jooste is a trustee, and in the registered company - Lanzerac – of which he is a director - is an interesting development. Financial records, and digital devices and data were also confiscated, according to the Western Cape High Court’s documents.
The search and seizure operation came five years after severe financial shenanigans at the global holding company came to light and turned out to be one of South Africa’s largest corporate scandals.
According to Bloomberg, the move by SARB represents a potential advance in the painstaking process of bringing charges against the former CEO, who numerous legal authorities and regulatory probes and lawsuits have pointed to as the mastermind behind the accounting scandal.
SARB Governer Lesetja Kganyago, who also formed part of the panel at the MTBPS briefing, said that the Bank’s investigators and legal advisers are going through the Exchange Control regulations with a fine-tooth comb to prove criminality and will hand over the case to the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority to lay the charge and prosecute.
But a violation of exchange controls is not the only possibility, it seems. Sars chief Edward Kieswetter, who was sitting next to the Governor, just smiled and nodded his head when the Reserve Bank boss said that tax evasion or collusion is not off the table and that if it was picked up by the SARB team, it would be handed over to the tax authorities for investigation.
Both Sars and SARB have extreme executive power in terms of the law to make work of this, and internal capacity has been somewhat restored in the latter by Kieswetter, which the previous had never lost as it remained the only independent organ of state, following the Zuma years, and catching a crook like Markus Jooste, who got away with murder for years, is not going to be an easy exercise.
So, if anybody can pull off an All Capone campaign to save face with our international anti-money laundering allies, it will be these two organs of state.
Somebody has to prove actions speak louder than words, and quickly because passing laws in this country takes a very long time, and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), which is supposed to sort out this mess, needs them to be passed to give them the executive power to do so.
The Hawks and NPA also have their hands full with cronies pointed out in the Zondo Commission, and our commercial courts or not worth a grain of salt.
But we we have no time to spare, and desperate times makes for desperate measures. But Sarb and the Sars have rescued the country from many a credit or cash crunch, this time seemed to be no different.
BUSINESS REPORT