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Nedbank has denied any wrongdoing after the state capture inquiry recommended that authorities investigate the bank and its employees for their alleged role in a “corrupt” contract involving Airports Company SA (Acsa) and the Gupta-linked Regiments Capital.
Nedbank and Standard Bank both had separate interest rate swap contracts with Acsa, which were negotiated via Regiments. Regiments pocketed millions in providing transaction advisory services to ACSA for the contracts, which came with kickbacks to its then ACSA treasurer and later SAA treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi.
“The ACSA interest swap contracts with Nedbank and Standard Bank were procured through the corrupt involvement of Regiments Capital, Mr Ramosebudi, [Regiments executives] Mr [Eric] Wood and Mr Niven Pillay,” the commission found in the first part of its report.
It said while Regiments was appointed with a specific fee, and in “collusion” with Ramosebudi, it “arranged to extract more than an additional R50 million at the expense of ACSA.”
While both banks were involved, with the commission finding that Acsa and the Asset Forfeiture Unit should recover monies from them — the inquiry specifically focused on Nedbank, and its alleged corrupt activity in the contracts, characterising its behaviour as “disturbing.”
It recommended that law enforcement agencies investigate the role of Mario Visnenza and Moss Brickman — two Nedbank dealers involved in the contracts — as well as Nedbank itself with a view to “prosecuting Mr Brickman, Mr Visnenza and/or Nedbank on charges under section 6(b)(ii) of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act 12 of 2004 if the investigation reveals that such prosecution is warranted.”
Aside from money involved in the actual interest rate swaps, it recommended that the AFU recover Nedbank’s profits under the R1,5 billion contract , unless the bank “has a valid defence to such recovery claims.” — fin24.
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