DAYS OF ZONDO: Reserve Bank official: ‘It is unclear if, or how, Standard Bank missed the Gupta red flags’ By Jessica Bezuidenhout JessBezJourn
Standard Bank was among the country’s major financial institutions that dumped the Guptas and related companies amid the growing State Capture scandal in 2016.
Homix, a letterbox company with no discernible trade activity, has been repeatedly named as the beneficiary of kick-backs from deals involving state-owned companies, and Regiments Capital andMazibuko testified that Homix held two accounts with Standard Bank that had been largely inactive or dormant up until around March 2014.
And, as soon as the money went into the account, it was transferred onwards to various other accounts, most being what he called “sole director” entities with no apparent business track record.I don’t know what the role of Standard Bank was, but this was an inactive account and all of a sudden there were huge amounts. I don’t know what action was taken.”
Banks usually report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Centre and some cases may be forwarded for criminal investigation — but the decision on whether to bank a particular client remains that of the bank.asked Standard Bank for comment about Mazibuko’s testimony at the commission, as well as some of its other Gupta-linked clients.
Mazibuko provided the commission with a Reserve Bank cash-flow analysis of the Homix account and said it showed the company would receive huge amounts of cash and once in, this would swiftly be moved onward to other entities.
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