Limpopo ANC treasurer and former youth league leader released on bail in connection with VBS scandal
Limpopo ANC treasurer Danny Msiza and former provincial ANC Youth League leader Kabelo Matsepe were released on bail on Friday in connection with the alleged plundering of VBS Mutual Bank.
They were among the latest suspects applying for bail at the Palm Ridge magistrate's court and face charges of racketeering, fraud, corruption, and money laundering. They were released on bail of R50,000 and R100,000.
The case is back in court on March 26 when they will join other accused in the matter to finalise pretrial management issues and get a high court date.
Their co-accused are Robert Madzonga, Ralliom Razwinane, Takunda Mucheke, and Tshinaeo Madadhze.
The pair were issued with warrants of arrest on Thursday, which led to them handing themselves over to authorities.
The Collins Chabane municipal manager, Tsakani Charlotte Ngobeni, also appeared briefly on charges of corruption and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).
It is alleged that in October 2017 Ngobeni deposited a sum of R120m, funds that belonged to the municipality, into an interest-bearing fixed deposit account at VBS Mutual Bank for a period of three months.
Earlier, on May 31 2017, the municipality had approved and adopted an “investment and cash management policy” which came into effect on June 2 2017. The policy prohibited the municipality from placing deposits with banks not registered in terms of the Banks Act.
The municipality was not allowed to invest with VBS because it was not registered under the Banks Act.
Fourteen accused collectively face 188 counts of racketeering, corruption, fraud, theft, and money laundering in connection with the VBS corruption scandal.
In October last year, one of the accused, former VBS Bank CFO Philip Truter, reached a plea and sentence agreement with the state which saw him sentenced to an effective seven-year jail term after pleading guilty to six counts, including corruption and fraud.
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