Question NW92 to the Minister of Finance
06 March 2024 - NW92
Powell, Ms EL to ask the Minister of Finance
(a) On which date were funds deposited by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into a South African bank account for Sudanese leaders prior to the meeting of the President of the Republic, Mr M C Ramaphosa, with Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, (b) which other organisations involved in wars across Africa have been similarly assisted and (c) was this one of the reasons that South Africa was grey-listed by the ratings agencies?
Reply:
a) As the Honourable member would be aware, the Minister of Finance does not have sight of transactions that are facilitated by banks on behalf of their clients. The role of the Minister of Finance, with regard to the operation of banks, is limited to formulating financial regulatory policy.
b) Please refer to (a) above.
c) Government has provided the reasons for South Africa being greylisted through public statements by National Treasury at the time (e.g. statement issued by National Treasury dated 24 February 2023[1], and related frequently asked questions, and responses to the many parliamentary questions, for e.g., Nos PQ943, PQ3967, PQ2641, PQ2642, NW1730E, and a question for oral response for the Deputy President CO254E). The country was greylisted, due to deficiencies on the extent to which the country complied with the 40 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and 11 effectiveness outcome measures, as assessed through a Mutual Evaluation process that was conducted by the FATF between 2019-2021.