Sources close to the investigation said the latest transaction was between Cerberus Risk Solutions, an arms broker in Cape Town, and Societe D’Equipments Internationaux, a Nigerian company in Abuja. An impeccable source said this company paid the R60 million (N1.2 billion) into Cerberus’ account at Standard Bank by legitimate transfer.
Cerberus was previously registered as a broker with the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), but the registration expired in May this year. The marketing and contracting permits also expired at the same time. The company has since applied for re-registration, but the application was in the NCACC’s mailbox for more than two months due to a lack of state processing. A natural process in South Africa.
Sources told Rapport that Cerberus apparently tried to pay the money back to the Nigerian company, after which the Standard Bank South Africa became “suspicious” which in fact then could confirm that ONSA was acting correctly as it should, waiting for further approvals.
The NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit subsequently obtained a court order in the South Gauteng High Court to seize the money after Standard Bank decided to pull the plug. It is not the first time that Standard Banks name is mention in arms deals. The problem is to decipher what is terrorist and what is not. The Question is why did Standard Bank act like this ? An African intelligence expert said that Standard Bank South Africa is playing games and hope to divert the “second coming” of their problems. During 2011 Standard Bank South Africa were linked in the Lewthwaite Terrorist scandal.
The notorious Terrorist, Madame Lewthwaite, had a loan of more than 20,000 rand from First Rand Bank, reports eNCA. In 2012, however, Standard Bank wrote off a loan of just under 30,000 rand made to Lewthwaite – Webb. Money she used to fund her terrorist activities. The NPA (National Prosecuting Authority South Africa) never prosecuted Standard Bank South Africa for their involvement to aid terrorist. The question is Why not ? Media 24 in South Africa reported that a total the debt at about R180,000 rand ($18,000) that was astonishingly written off one year prior to her exposure as a terrorist in fear or media exposure.
Federal Government
Last month, $9.3 million in $100 bills stashed in suitcases conveyed by two Nigerians and an Israeli, Eyal Mesika, in a private aircraft belonging to the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, was seized at Lanseria Airport, north of Johannesburg known for its illegitimate diamond deals.
Oritsejafor said the plane had been leased to a third party and that he could not be blamed for its schedules. The Federal Government later admitted it was behind the arms deal, claiming it was trying to procure arms in a secret deal to defeat the terrorist sect, Boko Haram.
A probe planned by the Senate into the transaction is ongoing while the House of Representatives threw out a motion seeking a probe. At the time, the South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) said customs officers became suspicious when the passengers’ luggage were unloaded and put through the scanners. The question is who were they going to bank with? According to currency regulation in South Africa there is only one bank that can deal in foreign currency in South Africa.
ONSA: Transaction is Legitimate.
Nonetheless, ONSA in a statement issued yesterday by its media adviser, PR Nigeria, said the transaction was legitimate, adding that the latest report by the South African media had vindicated the position that the cash-for-arms transaction was legitimate and was done with state approval. ONSA however wondered why the South African authorities were blowing the issue out of proportion and making it look like an illegal deal.
ONSA “I don’t know why South Africa is doing this to us. What do they want to achieve and stand to gain? Surely, if one reads the story very well, it is not hard to see that the whole transaction was legitimate and was done with banks and companies involved,” PR Nigeria quoted an ONSA source as stating.
The Forgotten Story
During 2004 , Wednesday evening of 6 October, the detectives from the Office for Serious Economic Offences (OSEO) Johannesburg were called in by their superiors and told to be on standby for a “major operation” the following day.
The South African Counter Terrorism unit (CTU} secretly brought an urgent court application in the Supreme Court that Wednesday evening seeking an order for search and seizure at a Standard Bank Branch in Pretoria.
According to Intelligence sources, the CTU operational team parked their official vehicles in the basement parking area underneath the old Strijdom Square in Van Der Walt Street next to the State Theater in Johannesburg. They marched through the deserted Standard Bank hall after hours and were met by a senior official of the Van der Walt Street Standard Bank.
He led the CTU team headed by General Mark Hankel, to the massive underground vaults of the Standard Bank where the safe deposit boxes were also located. Sources described to World News Tomorrow how surprisingly the members of CTU exactly knew which safe deposit boxes needed to opened. They identified a total of 16 boxes that were opened up by a locksmith.
A total of R 18 553 767.00, cash, South African bank notes, were counted and recorded. An amount of foreign currency, Kruger gold coins, as well as diamonds were also found in the safety deposit boxes. The NPA in the interest of political correctness did not prosecute Standard Bank South Africa, yet according to international laws it’s clear that all aid to terrorism in any form is illegal.
Twist of Tail
Standard Bank South Africa is the door to all African business and hold the exclusive rights to the US currency exchange in South Africa. Thus all currency coming in and out the country is exchanged by Standard Banks monetary agreement with the US. Thus in short, since the Federal Government later admitted it was behind the arms deal, claiming it was trying to procure arms in a secret deal to defeat the terrorist sect, Boko Haram, would it be logic that it had to deal with the currency exchange too.
In an interview with an official from the South African National Security Service , he said that Standard Bank new about the deal since it would have been procedure for the Federal CI Department to have notified Standard Bank that currency would be arriving.
This according to analysts leaves us with two options. either the bank manager at the time made a mistake or it saw the opportunity to burn an opposition in South Africa. If so, the question remains. Who and what is the opposition firm’s name that did not make the arms sale and is it linked to ISIS or Black Empowerment funding the ANC ?
By Docrat exclusive for World News Tomorrow
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