Standard Bank is being taken to the Constitutional Court this week in an attempt to “obtain transparency in the banking industry”.
Michael Tellinger, who has formed The New Economic Rights Alliance, is serving papers in the Concourt this week, asking for access to the court.
He is also asking people to sign a petition supporting his cause on behalf of all of those who feel they have been wronged by the banks.
“We have about 5 000 signatures, which we have collected in one week, but we are looking for around 20 000 to present to the Constitutional Court,” Tellinger said. “There is no other recourse for anyone who has been wronged by a bank.”
Tellinger – who describes himself as an author, explorer and scientist, and was one of the prominent speakers at the recent UFO Science and Consciousness conference – has been fighting Standard Bank for a year-and-a-half after it served a subpoena on him for being behind on his bond repayments.
Tellinger said he was getting in some money and wanted to pay off the full bond repayment, so he had asked Standard Bank for a few documents, including his certificate of balance.
“They refused to give them, so I sent them notarised affidavits, demanding the documents to settle the account. Instead of sending them to me, they sent me a summons,” said Tellinger.
He said none of the courts had come to his assistance.
“So I started familiarising myself with the laws surrounding banking, and the more I read, the more I became convinced the legal system is created to support the banks.”
Tellinger said he became a member of the Freeman Movement, also known as Freeman-on-the-land, which is described on the internet as a movement of people who opt out of being governed.
According to the website RationalWiki, no member of the movement has ever succeeded in a court.
Tellinger details on the website www.newera.org.za why he is taking on the bank, such as:
* Banks don’t lend money. That money lent is actually created through an elaborate scheme of paper shifting and number crunching; and
* Banks are failing to provide information to their customers;
* Banks bundle many loans together and sell them as securities
, and fail to inform customers of this.
Tellinger said he had presented 19 legal arguments to the Supreme Court of Appeal, and the judges had questioned him alone and not the banks, tearing down all his arguments.
The Star