Shivambu Jr loses court bid, ordered to repay VBS millions

The curators of the now-defunct VBS Mutual Bank have inched a step closer to receiving the millions that were once ‘borrowed’ to Brian Shivambu, the younger brother of the EFF’s deputy president.

A defunct VBS haunts Shivambu

A year after the Great Bank Heist sent shockwaves through the country, the South Gauteng High Court had to rule on an application made by liquidator Anoosh Rooplal to force Shivambu to pay back all monies he owed to VBS.

According to a recently published Daily Maverick report, Shivambu had committed fraud — in some capacity — to obtain a R4-million loan for his defunct company, Sgameka Projects.

This money, he alleged, was for the development of a wine bar and restaurant in Soweto. However, documents seen by the cited publication suggest that this, plus other monies siphoned by front companies, Grand Azania and Mahuna Investments, were used to ramp up the lifestyles of the EFF leadership.

How did we get here?

Initially, when Reserve Bank investigator, Terry Motau, had published his report into the R1.89-billion sophisticated robbery of South Africa’s first black-owned bank, Shivambu was one of those who went on the defence.

Motau had listed him with 52 other people who had allegedly benefitted from the looting that took down the bank, something that has never been seen in our history.

The Sgameka Projects founder claimed to have been targeted and vowed to take the matter up with the courts after Motau alleged that he had received as much as R16-million from VBS.

In his defence, the monies that were received from the bank were for “professional consulting services to Vele Investments in 2017”.

How much money does he still owe?

However, fast-forward to the week of 5 August 2019, and the man was singing an entirely different tune. He has conceded to the debt, which in total. is R2.78-million.

Based on the information Pauli van Wyk has published, Shivambu, on Monday, 5 August, had acknowledged the debt and effected a R1-million payment, via EFT, towards the loan.

This, according to Rooplal means that he still owes R1.78-million, including interest at the agreed rate of prime plus 500 basis points calculated from 24 January 2019, as well as legal costs on the scale of attorney and client.

At this time, there have been no indications from the Hawks — who have been pursuing the criminal case since October 2018 — if Shivambu, or anyone else who’s been listed with him in the VBS saga, will face fraud charges.