Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya and the national director of public prosecutions, Shamila Batohi, have given an undertaking that no stone will be left unturned in the probe into the looting of close to R2bn from VBS Mutual Bank.
The Hawks this morning arrested four suspects in the search and seizure operation in 10 premises in Limpopo and Gauteng.
The four suspects are expected to appear in court tomorrow while three were expected to hand themselves over.
The eighth suspect is in quarantine after contracting COVID-19.
They face 47 counts of charges – five counts of racketeering, 12 of theft, seven of fraud and 15 of corruption and seven of money laundering.
Lebeya said their investigation with the NPA revealed that as at 11 March 2018, an amount of R2,2bn was missing from the coffers of the bank.
He said the allegations were that the chairman of VBS, Tshifhiwa Matodzi, had signed false financial statements of the bank prepared by its CEO, Andile Ramavhunga.
“The scam was hatched on the 4 July 2017 when the board of directors for VBS approved financial statements for the year ending 31 March 2017 making VBS look richer while it was in fact insolvent. The financial statements were shockingly inflated,” he said.
“The investigation has revealed that the ten men who are the suspects either unduly directly or indirectly benefitted at least R122 287 863 which was not due,” he added.
Lebeya added that their probe had also revealed that 20 municipalities had deposited R3,7bn into VBS, of which R2,2bn has been recovered, leaving an amount of R1,5bn in the mutual bank.
The cops were also on the trail of those who were cleaning the money but would not name the individuals and politicians alleged to be involved in the saga.
“Our investigation is not directed at specific individuals, we are guided by the evidence at hand,” he said.
Batohi said a lot of work still lay ahead and that the organisation had to also fight off delay tactics in high profile cases.
“We can only turn the tide against corruption if those who commit these crimes are arrested, convicted and sentenced,” she said.
The investigation into the bank came after a report in October 2018 by Advocate Terry Motau, which laid bare the stealing of money from the bank.
The forensic report, titled “The great bank heist”, concluded that the bank was robbed of R1,9bn.
