FNB pressured to meet with government, ANC over Gupta accounts
First National Bank (FNB) was requested to attend a meeting with the African National Congress (ANC) after it closed the bank accounts of entities linked to the Gupta family.
FNB was requested to sit down with former ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe and the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) over its decision to terminate its relationship with the family.
The meeting with the ANC never materialised.
FNB closed the accounts of Tegeta, TNA Media, Islandsite and Sahara Computers after it believed that the account holders, the Gupta brothers, were involved in suspicious conduct.
The bank testified at the public hearings of the commission of inquiry into state capture on Tuesday in Park Town.
The bank attributed the closure to the "associated reputational and business risks" of doing business with the controversial family.
Former First Rand Bank executive, Johan Burger, told the commission he was flabbergasted at the invitation to meet the leaders of the governing party.
“In my 32 years as a banker this is the first call I every got from any political party on asking questions about the client-bank relationship.”
He was contacted by the ANC’s head of economic policy Enoch Godongwana to meet Mantashe but Burger said the lack of details on the purpose of the meeting raised red flags.
The bank rejected a request to meet with an inter-ministerial committee after it received legal advice that the meeting would be illegal.
The finance minister at the time, Pravin Gordhan, sat on the IMC but was not invited to the meeting.
Burger said the motive behind the meetings was to establish whether FNB conspired with other banks to close the accounts of the family.
“I categorically deny any collision or interaction with any bank regarding our decision to close the accounts of the Guptas.”