Scotch Tagwireyi and Nicolas Dieltiens
The South African Reserve Bank has managed to hide alleged evidence of maladministration that is in the hands of its former employee Nicolaas Alant by reaching an out of court settlement with him.
Wednesday’s agreement forces Alant to return all documents he obtained from the bank while working there. He was employed between 1989 and 1993, during which time he gathered files that show how for 20 years the bank approved of illegal offshore financial schemes devised in the apartheid era.
In 1999 businessman David Jenkins subpoenaed Alant to testify in a case where Jenkins was facing charges of illegal offshore dealings. The Reserve Bank made an urgent application to retrieve the documents Alant had submitted to the court. It has since applied to seize information in Alant’s possession. Its counsel prepared arguments for the hearing to be heard in camera. Alant opposed the application, saying he kept the information to protect himself.
The bank’s application was based on Section 33 of the Reserve Bank Act of 1989, which bars all its employees from disclosing any information pertaining to the institution.
The case flies in the face of the new Access to Information Act, which Parliament passed early this year. The Act forces all public and private institutions to disclose information that is considered by a court to be of public interest.
Chair of the Freedom of Expression Institute Salim Vally says: “It is strange that a public institution such as the Reserve Bank would simply refuse to be transparent and deny the public information.”
Charles van Staden of the Reserve Bank declined to comment, saying the settlement agreement prevents him from disclosing any information.