Staff at Standard Bank, Absa and Sasfin implicated in money laundering

Al Jazeera reported that employees at the top South African banks were paid bribes to launder money for gold smugglers

Officials at three South African banks are helping a gold smuggling gang launder large sums of money in exchange for bribes. This is according to the latest instalment of an Al Jazeera investigation, published on Thursday. 

The news organisation reported that it had documents and interviews revealing that staff at Standard Bank, Absa and Sasfin were on the payroll of money launderer Mohamed “Mo Dollars” Khan, who it said was a known accomplice of Zimbabwean cigarette magnate Simon Rudland, the owner of Gold Leaf Tobacco.

Rudland is alleged to be the kingpin behind multiple Zimbabwean smuggling gangs said to be sneaking gold into South Africa. 

Al Jazeera said the implicated staff members at the banks would enable dubious money transfers from Khan’s companies (Salt Asset Management and PKSA) and remove evidence from the computer systems, while getting monthly payments from Khan.

Sasfin told Al Jazeera it was taking vigorous action against suspended and former employees and clients of its foreign exchange unit. Absa said it had passed on Al Jazeera’s findings to its Forensic Investigative Unit, while Standard Bank said it had a zero-tolerance stance on fraud and criminality and would report and assist in any legal investigation. 

This comes after South Africa was greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force a month ago, placing it under increased monitoring by the Paris-based international financial crimes watchdog for failing to meet standards to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing. 

To be taken off the list, South Africa will have to increase investigations and prosecutions of serious and complex money-laundering cases and enhance efforts to seize the proceeds of financial crimes.