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Cape Town – The Democratic Alliance (DA) has refused to meet Oakbay Investments CEO Nazeem Howa, who apparently wrote to the party requesting a meeting regarding being blacklisted by SA's banks.
DA MP David Maynier, who is their shadow minister of finance, said in a statement on Monday that Howa wrote to DA leader Mmusi Maimane on 21 April requesting a meeting.
“Unsurprisingly, the purpose of the meeting would have been to request assistance in appealing to the banks to review their decision to terminate their business relationship with Oakbay Investments,” said Maynier.
“It goes without saying that the request for the meeting was inappropriate and there will be no meeting with anybody from Oakbay Investments.”
Maynier said the DA believes it is wrong of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Labour Minister Mildred Olifant and Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane to be intervening on behalf of the Guptas in business decisions taken by the banks to cut ties with Oakbay.
“This matter is best left to the South African Reserve Bank, which is responsible for the regulation of the banking industry in South Africa,” he said.
“The real question is not why the banks terminated their relationship with the Guptas,” he said. “The real question is why the banks took so long to terminate their relationship with the Guptas.”
The DA has requested Sarb governor Lesetja Kganyago to look into this matter to investigate “whether certain banks, who had business relationships with the Guptas, complied with all the relevant provisions of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica) (No. 38 of 2001), and if the investigation determines that certain banks failed to comply, to order any appropriate remedial action or administrative sanctions.”
Banks still in dark on Gupta talks with ministers
At least two of South Africa’s top four banks said they haven’t been approached for a meeting by government to explain the termination of their relationships with Oakbay Investments, Fin24 reported earlier on Monday.
On Thursday, Jeff Radebe, Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation caused a stir when he said three cabinet ministers – Zwane, Oliphant and Gordhan – would meet with the top four banks to find out why they didn’t want to do business with “a certain company”.
Neither Standard Bank nor Nedbank were willing to confirm whether the three ministers had approached them for a meeting, while Absa and First National Bank (FNB) said they haven’t had such requests from government.
Cas Coovadia, CEO of the Banking Association of South Africa, earlier issued a press statement, saying “an array of regulations”, including the Fica compelled financial services institutions to conduct due diligence on clients, “particularly those of a substantive nature and those that are in the public domain”.
“A bank will take these matters into account when considering ongoing relationships with clients, and will take appropriate action, based on the circumstances,” Coovadia said.
Oakbay did not respond to a request for comment on an apparent meeting with the DA.
