“Hopelessly insolvent” VBS bank to be liquidated

The SARB’s Prudential Authority has issued an application out of the High Court of South Africa, Pretoria for the final liquidation of VBS.

“Whilst VBS is currently under curatorship pursuant to a decision taken by the Minister of Finance on 10 March 2018, the Prudential Authority is of the view that curatorship must now be terminated and VBS must be placed in final winding-up,” it said.

The bank said that VBS is “hopelessly insolvent” and massive frauds have been perpetrated against it.

“As a result there is no prospect of entering into any resolution plan in respect of VBS,” it said.

The authority said it believes that the final winding-up of VBS is in the best interests of all parties, and will allow a liquidator to use the machinery provided for in insolvency legislation and the Companies Act to effect recoveries, and to follow the recommendations of the investigator who investigated the affairs of VBS and who has prepared a report into VBS.

It expects the application for the final winding-up of VBS to be set down for hearing, by the Pretoria High Court, on Tuesday, 13 November 2018.

VBS has been embroiled in a massive looting scandal that has been called the biggest bank heist in South Africa’s history.

Investigations into the matter revealed that close to R2 billion was looted from the bank’s coffers by 53 individuals and groups between March 2015 and June 2018.

Read: Messages show how the ANC directly scored from the VBS ‘bank heist’: report