Cape Town – Three accused in the ongoing VBS Bank corruption matter appeared again in court on Thursday, 4 July.
Risimati Maluleke, the former municipal manager of the Greater Giyani Local Municipality, appeared in the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court along with Nditshedzeni Mashau, the municipality’s former acting CFO, and businessman Zwivhuya Goodness Tshishonga.
The two officials are accused of unlawfully investing R153 million into the now defunct VBS Mutual Bank in 2017, according to the South African Government News Agency.
The three, who were arrested in March, face charges of contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), corruption and money laundering. The MFMA prevents municipalities from bank with a mutual bank, and VBS was not a bank as defined in the Banks Act.
It is alleged they used the bank to launder funds and redirect them. National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson, Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi, broke down the allegations further: “It is alleged that the first investment of R100 million matured and yielded an interest amounting to over R4 million. Later, over R48 million was also invested. The investment and the interest were then not paid back to the municipality.
“It is alleged that Tshishonga received substantial amounts of money into his business account of Real Consulting, in turn, Tshishonga [would] transfer a portion of the money to Maluleke thus disguising the nexus between VBS and Maluleke. In total Maluleke received R62 000 from Tshishonga,” she said.
TimesLive reports that the trio also appeared in court in May, but the case was postponed until 4 July so one of the accused could secure legal representation.
They are now due back in court in August.
Godfrey Lebeya, the head of the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (Hawks), announced in a press briefing last month that “a total number of 33 VBS arrests have been effected”, with three people already convicted.
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