PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO: 25
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 17 February 2012
QUESTION PAPER NO: 5
DATE OF REPLY:
Mr H.B Groenewald to ask the Minister of Communications:
1) Whether, (a) with regard to the drat theft of R42 million from a
certain bank (name furnished), any steps have been taken to prevent
similar occurrence; (b) if not, why not; (c) if so what steps;
2) Whether the R42 million has been (a) fully recovered and (b)
returned to the accounts it was stolen from, (aa) if not; why not;
(bb) if so, what are the relevant details.;
3) What is the status of the two officials who were allegedly
implicated and arrested as a result of an internal investigation
regarding this matter?
CW25E
REPLY:
(1) (a) Yes, however please note that the actual value of the theft
was in fact not R42 million as reported but a lower amount that
cannot be divulged at this stage so that the investigation is not
compromised.
(b) Not Applicable
(c) The following number of controls has been implemented to
prevent a re- occurrence of the incident:
i) The first phase of implementing tighter password control, on-
going activities to further strength this capability during
Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 of 2012 is currently underway.
ii) Restriction of access to key banking applicants to only
critical staff.
iii) Removal of remote access for non-critical staff.
iv) The implementation of tighter network access controls
v) Limits being placed on daily cash withdrawals on ATMs.
vi) Generation of new reports to better monitor money
laundering/fraudulent activity
vii) Proactive monitoring of deposit and withdrawals activity
(2) (a) The amount has not been fully recovered but steps are being
taken by SAPO Security and Investigation team to recover as much
as possible. Given the sensitive nature of the investigation,
details cannot be revealed at this stage.
(b) No customer accounts were compromised during the fraud.
Therefore, there is no need to reimburse any accounts.
(aa) Since the accounts were not compromised
(bb) The accounts were not compromised during the fraud.
(3) The investigation is still in progress and three people have been
arrested. They are in custody of SAPS and the necessary
investigation and prosecutorial process are underway