South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago has confirmed that they are still investigating the Phala Phala matter.
He said once the report is out they will comment on one thing and that is whether there was any breach of exchange control regulations.
The same applied with the South African Revenue Service when it talked about the matter.
Kganyago was on Tuesday evening addressing the community of Soweto on the work of the bank.
When asked about Phala Phala, he said it was under investigation.
He said even the acting Public Protector, advocate Kholeka Gcaleka, took long with her own investigation.
She only released her final report last Friday.
Gcaleka cleared President Cyril Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing.
But opposition parties were up in arms and threatened to take the report on judicial review.
They want the report to be aside by the court.
Kganyago said they are also not done in their own investigation.
“We generally do not comment on investigations that are ongoing or that had taken place in the past. You might have noticed the public protector released her report on Friday and they took long. Even when we complete our investigation it will be pronouncing on one thing. Were the exchange control regulations breached? Yes or no. And that will be our pronouncement.
“In terms of our legislation, we do not release a report because, I think you might have seen what SARS had done because they are constrained in terms of their legislation. But if the subject which is being investigated says you can publicly say (this thing), we will do it. Otherwise we will have to wait for a court,” said Kganyago.
He said the issue of Phala Phala was a subject of public interest.
The South African Reserve Bank was going to ensure a proper investigation was done.
Kganyago said they will be thorough in their work to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics