The nation has been spellbound at the startling revelations emanating from the various official inquiries, especially pertaining to state capture and the Sars debacle.
I found the accusations made against the Gupta family by the major banking groups, fascinating, but also highly contentious.
Questions abound about the manner in which the major banks arbitrarily closed the Gupta business accounts without due process being observed, or any necessary intensive investigations put in motion, to justify the authoritarian closures.
No person or business should be above the law and if a powerful banking sector is allowed to operate with unbridled impunity, our country will soon be on the slippery slope to oblivion.
Probing questions from Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo to the various bank honchos illustrated his apparent disquiet at the banks’ actions.
The judge queried why the banks had not given the Gupta brothers the right of habeas corpus, especially pertaining to audi alterem partem (the right of accused persons to be fairly heard concerning any accusations against them) and also why the banks had acted in such a united pattern, bordering on collusion, when abruptly terminating the Gupta accounts.
There were no misgivings expressed by the banks when dealing with the ultimate pariah, the crime against humanity perpetrator, the apartheid government regime.
The rumblings of fraudulent activities were given added substance when the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) announced that it had detected 72 “suspicious” transactions on Gupta company bank accounts.
The South African banking system has some of the most sophisticated world class systems which they could have used to track and conclusively prove any malfeasance by the Guptas.
However, in unison the banks chose to act solely on flimsy supposition and media aspersions. Most significantly in all the time that has since elapsed, neither the FIC nor any of the banks has announced any subsequent proof of any of those alleged 72 “suspicious” transactions.
The banks were seemingly happy to transact with the Guptas for nearly two decades since they migrated to these shores, and in that lengthy period scores of huge transactions took place. There is a regulation that compels all banks to track and report any patterns of suspicious large transactions to the FIC for further investigation and referral to the Hawks.
As the internal banking industry regulators such as the ombudsman and the Banking Association have proved to be ineffective due to their partiality, perhaps the banking fraternity should also be subjected to a judicial inquiry to thoroughly investigate their business propriety?
Banking is the bedrock of the economy without which there can be no trade and commerce would grind to a halt. It’s crucial that banks are held to the same high standards of commercial propriety that the rest of us mere mortals are held to.
Otherwise it might be your bank account that is suddenly closed without any due process being observed, and without any bank accountability.
So as to sanitise the current unsavoury situation, we must insist that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Hawks awaken from their self-induced slumber, to get off their lazy butts and speedily extradite the accused Guptas back to South Africa to be criminally held to account for their alleged transgressions. Then there would be no need to query alleged banking unethical actions.