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Hawks arrest former municipal executives over VBS scandal

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Three former municipal executives in Gauteng have been arrested by the Hawks in connection with the VBS scandal and will appear in court on Tuesday.

They are the former Municipal manager in West Rand District Municipality, acting Municipal Manager in Merafong Local Municipality, and former manager of Income and Expenditure in the West Rand District Municipality.

The arrests are linked to ongoing investigations of corruption, money laundering and theft at the bank, allegedly by a number of high-profile executives.

 

Stokvel groups, pensioners and 20 municipalities lost billions of rands in the looting.

Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale says, “The arrest is based on the ongoing investigation of maladministration and corruption in the looting of the VBS Mutual Bank. The trio will be appearing on the 29 June 2021 in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.”

“The allegations in this arrests relate to investments into VBS Mutual Bank (VBS) made by municipalities. The investments made by the municipalities into VBS are reported to have been done in contravention of the provisions of the Municipal Finance Management Act by investing municipal funds with a mutual bank. During the arrests, a search and seizure operation was also conducted in order to confiscate IT equipment which could contain pertinent documentation and/or articles relating to the investigation,” adds Mogale.

In March, seven people arrested for the alleged looting and collapse of the VBS Mutual Bank appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court.

The video below is reporting on the court appearance of the seven suspects in March:

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