Eight people accused in the R2–billion looting of VBS Mutual Bank are expected to appear at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Seven of the accused had been arrested during a raid in June last year.
The eighth was reported to be in isolation as he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The looting scandal became public knowledge in 2017 when the board of directors approved financial statements, making VBS look richer while it was insolvent.
Hundreds of people have lost their monies some thousands of rand that they had invested in the bank.
On the other hand, different municipalities across the country have lost millions.
VBS is currently under liquidation.
The accused are charged with racketeering, theft, fraud, corruption and money laundering.
Seven of the accused were granted R100 000 bail each during their first appearance in June last year.
In the video below, Several top VBS insiders, including board members and the chief KPMG auditor for the bank arrested:
‘Payback the money’
A pensioner, who invested hundreds of thousands of rands of her late husband’s pension in VBS, is not convinced that the arrest of alleged VBS looters will bring positive results.
Elisa Mudau says she fears that the accused may just pay fines, or bribe judicial officials and walk free without paying back the money.
Mudau, a single parent, who invested all her late husband’s pension money into VBS, now suffers from ill-health.
Her health deteriorated after news of the VBS looting broke over two years ago. She is part of over 3000 depositors, including pensioners, whose money was stolen allegedly by bank executives and politicians.
Depositors, who had deposited less than R100 000, were allowed to withdraw their money.
Unlike most of the people who are happy that some of the alleged looters have been arrested, Mudau is not.
She says she will only have a sense of peace once she gets her money back.
-Additional reporting by SABC News
