Democratic Alliance Officially Lays Charges Against VBS Bank Executives

South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has officially laid charges of fraud and corruption against the executives of VBS Mutual Bank and its majority shareholder, Vele Investments.

The DA opened the charges at the Sandton police station in Johannesburg on Friday.

The bank executives have been accused of misusing funds for personal gain, with allegations they have defrauded VBS of more than R1.5 billion.

The DA’s Kevin Mileham said: “The earlier we get the case opened with the police, the earlier the investigation from the police side can start. Obviously, there are investigations that are happening within the Reserve Bank, Registrar of Banks officer and the group curator of VBS. But I think what’ve seen is a distinct lack of political will, and I think it relates to the facts that the African National Congress has essentially used VBS as a front for them.”

Yesterday there were reports that the ANC accepted donations from VBS for a gala event from a “questionable source”, said the DA.

VBS, which is under curatorship, has been marred by controversy for years. It is the same bank which gave Jacob Zuma a loan to pay for his Nkandla compound.

On Friday concerned VBS customers had gone to Nedbank, where their funds have been transferred, to queue from as early as 3am to be the first to retrieve their money. However the Reserve Bank has assured customers it has made provisions to enable them to access their funds through Nedbank for the next three years.