Johannesburg | Monday
RETIRED deputy SA Reserve Bank (SARB) governor James Cross told the Commission of Inquiry into the rapid depreciation of the rand on Monday that he was not the source of information on possible trades which could have led to the currency’s collapse last year.
According to media reports there were strong rumours in the markets that Cross gave SA Chamber of Business chief executive officer Kevin Wakeford information which Wakeford passed on to President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki later established the commission.
”I wish to state that I never communicated with Mr Wakeford on any issue, verbally or in writing either directly or via a third party,” Cross told the Johannesburg based commission.
Commission head Advocate John Myburgh put on record that he had telephoned Wakeford on Monday morning and Wakeford had confirmed that Cross was not his source.
Wakeford told the Johannesburg-based commission last week that he was given information from a reliable source that ”there was a likelihood” that Deutsche Bank ”might”, in a asset swap deal with chemical producer Sasol, have used ”unethical but not necessarily illegal means” to manipulate the currency.
He refused to name his source, but said the information about the Sasol deal was passed to the SARB in October last year.
Wakeford said it was rumoured that packing group Nampak and M-Cell were conducting similar deals with Deutsche Bank that could have also contributed to the rand’s 37% fall last year.
Last week all the companies provided evidence to the commission, denying the allegations.
Wakeford wrote the letter containing the allegations to Mbeki on January 8 this year after, he said, the SARB apparently did respond to the source’s information.
However, legal counsel for SARB Philip Ginsberg, told the commission the central bank had been investigating Sasol for a foreign transaction during the US1,14-billion acquisition of German chemical producer Condea in February last year.
In his letter to Mbeki, Wakeford said Deutsche had strong links with SARB and the Department of Finance.
Wakeford said his evidence was only contributing factor in Mbeki’s establishment of the R25-million commission.
He also said it was interesting that the rand had stabilised since the establishment of the commission, ”even with the upheaval in Zimbabwe”.
The currency was trading around R11,05 to the US dollar on Monday morning after reaching a record low of R13,87 to the dollar in late December last year. – Sapa