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Reuters

Corruption under South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma was enabled by international banks, companies and governments which should now seek to recover the loot they helped to launder, British lawmaker Peter Hain told an inquiry on Monday.
HSBC, Standard Chartered and India’s Bank of Baroda as well as their senior directors were “directly culpable” in the looting of South Africa’s treasury under Zuma, Hain said in his submission to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture.
Hain was invited to give evidence because he had already named several companies he was investigating under parliamentary privilege in 2017 as complicit in state capture.
HSBC said it fully supported the commission’s inquiry. Standard Chartered and Bank of Baroda did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“They’re all up to their neck in this,” Hain told the inquiry at his appearance.
“They continued because of course the corporates concerned, including the banks, were making money out of it … The Guptas could not have amassed this illicit wealth without the corporates and the banks … being their little helpers.”
Zuma, who was removed as president last year over corruption allegations, is facing a judicial inquiry. He has agreed to cooperate but has dismissed the investigation as prejudiced.
Part of its brief is to investigate accusations that the Guptas – prominent businessmen brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh – influenced Zuma over political appointments and state contracts.
Zuma tells corruption probe he’s a victim of a conspiracy
Hain, a lord and former anti-Apartheid activist, called on the banks, global companies and foreign governments to cooperate better so all those involved are brought to justice.
In his submission he said a number of international banks helped the Guptas cloak the source of their funds – by allowing them to open and maintain bank accounts, even after allegations of their involvement in corruption became public, and also by allowing them to transfer illicit funds into these accounts.
“The warning signs were there and they did very little about it,” he said of the banks, adding that when he had tried to question the banks after he had named them in parliament as complicity he “found a great reluctance, citing … client confidentiality, which is the excuse they hide behind … The international banks, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of Baroda are hiding behind this principle to conceal their complicity.”
The role of global finance in facilitating corruption, fraud and money laundering has come under increasing scrutiny over the past decade, but the fight against financial crime is mostly dealt with by national authorities who often fail to cooperate effectively.

Among Hain’s recommendations are to improve transparency around the beneficial owners of companies. He also proposes better programmes for auditing the due diligence conducted by banks to ensure that they are complying with anti-money-laundering laws, and stiffer penalties for individuals and organisations that fail to do so.
An HSBC spokeswoman said the bank will continue to investigate any potential links to the Guptas or Gupta-related individuals and companies should new information come to light.
“This is no easy task given the lengths to which the Guptas have gone to disguise their activity,” she said.
The Guptas also deny the accusations and say they have been victims of a political attack. They have since closed their South African operations in mining, media and technology.
Hain’s report said that they currently live in Dubai, and call on the Dubai authorities to extradite them to South Africa to face questioning over the allegations.


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South Africa

UK lawmaker Peter Hain blames HSBC, Standard Chartered in South Africa corruption probe

Former South African President Jacob Zuma appears in court in October. Photo: Reuters

epa08005239 Britian's Lord Peter Hain arrives at the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture held in Johannesburg, South Africa, 18 November 2019. Hain took to the stand at the public hearings where he's testifying about how domestic corruption was facilitated on the international stage to enable money laundering. The official proclamation of the commission in the Government Gazette is that the commission is to inquire, investigate and make recommendations into any and all allegations of state capture, corruption and fraud in the public sector with note to the Gupta brothers, former president Jacob Zuma and his son, Duduzane Zuma. EPA-EFE/YESHIEL PANCHIA

A sign featuring a HSBC Holdings Plc logo hangs outside a bank branch in London, U.K., on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019. The U.K. is headed to the polls on Dec. 12, bringing banks, utilities and housebuilders into focus for U.K. equity investors. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

US blacklists South Africa’s Gupta family over ‘widespread corruption’

Protesters march with a cut-out poster of Atul Gupta through Cape Town in April 2017, calling on then South African President Jacob Zuma to step down. Photo: AFP

FILE - In this Sept. 2010 file photo, Atul Gupta, of the Gupta family, is seen outside magistrates courts in Johannesburg. The U.S. Treasury Department has on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019 imposed sanctions on members of the Gupta family who face wide-ranging corruption allegations in South Africa during former president Jacob Zuma's tenure. Outrage in South Africa over the Guptas' relationship with Zuma led the ruling African National Congress party to pressure Zuma to resign in early 2018. (AP Photo)

South Africa’s Jacob Zuma tells corruption probe he is victim of conspiracy

Former South African president Jacob Zuma (centre) addresses supporters in Johannesburg on Monday. Photo: AP

A man holds a t-shirt depicting the portrait of former South African President Jacob Zuma, as he gathers with supporters outside House Hill building during the former South African president appearance at the Zondo Commission in Johannesburg, South Africa on July 15, 2019. - South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma dismissed multiple graft allegations against him, on July 15, 2019 telling a judicial inquiry he was the victim of conspiracies, years of "character assassination" and plots to kill him. (Photo by Guillem Sartorio / AFP)

Supporters of Former South African president Jacob Zuma gather outside House Hill building during the former South African President appearance at the Zondo Commission in Johannesburg, South Africa on July 15, 2019. - South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma dismissed multiple graft allegations against him, on July 15, 2019 telling a judicial inquiry he was the victim of conspiracies, years of "character assassination" and plots to kill him. (Photo by Guillem Sartorio / AFP)

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Former South African President Jacob Zuma gestures, in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Friday, May 24, 2019. Zuma is in court facing charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, Pool)

Photo taken on July 27, 2017 shows an aerial view of some locomotives at the Pyramid South station, north of Pretoria, South Africa. 305 of the 554 locally assembled locomotives have been delivered to South Africa since October 2012 when the South Africa state rail company Transnet contracted the Chinese Zhuzhou Electric Locomotives Company under the Chinese locomotive manufacturer CRRC to supply first 95 locomotives. In March 2014, the two sides sighed a new contact including the supply of other 459 locomotives. In an interview with Xinhua at the Africa Rail 2017 conference and exhibition held in Johannesburg on June 14, 2017, Thamsanqa Jiyane, Chief Advanced Manufacturing Officer of Transnet, said that "the Chinese have brought a new kind of partnership where they impart skills for our future use on our own." Wang Guojun, General Manager of CRRC South Africa, told Xinhua that several thousand jobs have been created directly or indirectly for South Africa because of the cooperation.(X

(180721) -- BEIJING, July 21, 2018 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and South African technicians work inside of a locomotive to be assembled at the Transnet Engineering Koedoespoort Plant in Pretoria, South Africa, on July 27, 2017. In the past five years, China and African nations have deepened political mutual trust, mutual assistance in development and mutual learning in visions, and made concerted efforts in building the Belt and Road and a closer China-Africa community with a shared future. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) (wtc)

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Signage is displayed atop the HSBC Holdings Plc headquarters building, left, and the Standard Chartered Bank building in the central business district of Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, July 25, 2019. HSBC is scheduled to release interim earnings results on Aug. 5. Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg

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Virgin founder Richard Branson speaking on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in October. Photo: Bloomberg

The controversial photo posted to Twitter by Richard Branson (centre), which has since been deleted.

News

World

Africa


Peter Hain told a judicial commission in Johannesburg that the banks were ‘directly culpable’ in former president Jacob Zuma’s looting of the treasury



Peter Hain told a judicial commission in Johannesburg that HSBC, Standard Chartered and India’s Bank of Baroda were ‘directly culpable’ in the looting of South Africa’s treasury by Jacob Zuma, the former president.


Banking & finance

Scams and swindles

UK lawmaker Peter Hain blames HSBC, Standard Chartered in South Africa corruption probe

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Peter Hain told a judicial commission in Johannesburg that the banks were ‘directly culpable’ in former president Jacob Zuma’s looting of the treasury

Peter Hain told a judicial commission in Johannesburg that the banks were ‘directly culpable’ in former president Jacob Zuma’s looting of the treasury