Unanswered questions
Ramaphosa also has yet to respond adequately to the South African Reserve Bank, which has written to his lawyers asking for details of the transaction.
In a letter to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance on Tuesday, the governor of the Reserve Bank Lesetja Kganyago said following press reports about the robbery its Financial Surveillance Department had written to Ramaphosa’s legal advisors on 20 June requesting “information and details regarding the origin of the foreign currency and any underlying transaction that may pertain to it.”
The bank had initially given Ramaphosa 21 business days to respond to the letter and subsequently granted an extension of 15 working days.
The SARB letter
The department has since received a response from the president’s legal advisors to which further information and details were requested by the department. A response to this additional request for information is required and expected no later than 8 September, whereafter the department will be able to progress its investigation into the matter.
Kganyago’s letter to the committee follows letters written to it by two of the committee members EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu and the DA MP Dion George.
The SARB administers SA’s exchange control regulations and investigates contraventions. Under the regulations, all foreign currency transactions must be reported to the bank within 30 days.
Kganyago’s letter requesting information confirms that Ramaphosa did not report the transaction as required by law.
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