South African opposition the Democratic Alliance (DA) will lay criminal charges against the Bank of Baroda, in the wake of a detailed investigation earlier this week by The Hindu and the Organised Crime and Corruption Project (OCCRP), according to the official website of the party.
The investigation said that senior bank officials at the BoB’s Johannesburg branch had voided alerts made by their junior counterparts about suspicious activity in the Gupta accounts.
Citing a statement by Natasha Mazzone, DA’s Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, the website said the DA “believes that the allegations should be thoroughly investigated”.
“If these allegations prove true, it would seem as though the Bank of Baroda has knowingly facilitated the illicit flows of money from State owned entities to Gupta accounts. Despite South African banks shutting down their accounts with the Guptas as well as the mounting evidence of State Capture, the Bank of Baroda continued to do business with the family and their companies,” Ms. Mazzone was quoted as saying.
