Floyd Shivambu denies he received R10m from VBS

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu has denied ever having any dealings with or receiving R10m from VBS bank‚ referring to attempts to link the EFF to the bank as “disingenuous and patently weak”.

“Ever since the VBS Heist Report was released‚ I see weapons of mass deception and propaganda machines hard at work to mislead our people with their fake news."

“For the record‚ I have never received R10-million from VBS or anyone in my personal account. Faceless sources reportedly to be from South African Reserve Bank‚ who have ulterior motives‚ have been misleading journalists and radio presenters with their malicious narrative‚” Shivambu said in a statement on Saturday.

He added: “I have no dealings with VBS and any attempt to link the EFF to the bank for cheap political points is a clear sign of desperation and soon enough people will see through it. The so-called well-placed sources in the SARB is a coward and a liar [sic] who misled journalists and can’t even reveal their identity. “I have no dealings with VBS and attempts to link the EFF position to business dealings are disingenuous and patently weak.”

Shivambu was responding to claims that he may have benefitted from funds allegedly looted from the collapsed VBS Mutual Bank.

Shivambu’s brother‚ Brian‚ has also denied receiving any money from VBS.

According to a forensic report released this week‚ titled “The Great Bank Heist” and commissioned by the South African Reserve Bank‚ Brian Shivambu. Brian Shivambu‚ owner of Sgameka projects‚ allegedly received R16m from VBS.

Floyd Shivambu said on Saturday that the EFF’s “principled position” on the VBS matter had always been the following: “1. That VBS must not be liquidated and should instead be recapitalised in the same way African Bank was recapitalised."

“2. That all people who were associated with wrongdoing should be held accountable and those who illegally benefited from the fraud must be criminally prosecuted immediately."

“3. That whilst the collapse of VBS was due to fraud and looting‚ it was also due to regulatory failure of the SARB‚ which fails to independently verify the capital adequacy of [the] bank but placed undue faith in auditing companies despite warnings about the complicity of auditors in corruption."

“4. That the curator must protect the interests of depositors."

“5. That the SARB should transparently manage all issues that relate to curatorship of the bank and must engage in fair practice."

“6. An independent commission of inquiry should be established to look into the role of National Treasury‚ Sarb and VBS on all circumstances that led to the collapse of the bank.”

Shivambu said the EFF’s position on VBS had never changed even when the bank is under curatorship.

“That is why we exposed the appointment of Nedbank to take over the accounts of VBS Depositors without due process despite the fact that there are fewer Nedbank branches and Nedbank is the most expensive."

“If our interest was on siphoning money from the dissolved board members of VBS‚ we would have disengaged when the bank was placed under curatorship. We however continue to closely monitor how depositors’ monies‚ made endless call to the Reserve Bank to give people their money and motivated why the bank should be saved‚” he stated.