The personal bank accounts of Sekunjalo CEO Iqbal Survé are in the process of being terminated by Nedbank along with the business accounts of 43 entities related to the broader Sekunjalo Group.

The move is reminiscent of the crisis that enveloped Gupta-linked companies in 2016 and 2017 when banks, auditors and advisers terminated their relationships with the entities at the heart of state capture.

Entities affected by Nedbank’s move include Premier Fishing and nine of its subsidiaries, the Independent Media Consortium and its media operations, Sekunjalo Investment Holdings and Sagarmatha.

The move saw shares in the lobster catcher plunging by 28% yesterday. Premier Fishing is a part of the African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI) stable, the parent company of AYO Technology Solutions controlled by Survé. 

Nedbank has given some of the companies until Tuesday to find alternative banking platforms. Others were given different deadlines until May.

The bank said its relationship with companies that are directly associated with Survé or the Sekunjalo Group posed unsustainable reputational and associated risks to it. This is due to the serious nature of various allegations which came to light when they were examined by Judge Lex Mpati during the commission of inquiry into impropriety at the PIC.

The subsequent report, released to the public in early 2020, implicated former CEO Dan Matjila, Survé and others in the asset manager’s ill-fated multibillion-rand deals.

Other reasons cited by Nedbank were dissatisfaction with Sekunjalo’s response to queries in relation to certain transactions, as well as its concerns about the source of funds and deposits in certain accounts, which were not adequately addressed.

This information was contained in court documents related to an urgent interdict brought by 43 companies within the Sekunjalo Group against Nedbank.

The order handed down by Judge Matthew Francis in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday noted that the matter was not urgent, and needed to be heard in the Equality Court and the Competition Tribunal.

However, in the meantime, Nedbank was free to close bank accounts.

In a market update yesterday, AEEI confirmed that its interdict to stop Nedbank from shuttering its accounts had been dismissed, notes a report on the Fin24 site.

‘AEEI has made arrangements for alternative payment methods in the interim and is in the process of reviewing its options for transactional banking facilities,’ it said, without providing further details.

Full Daily Maverick report

Full report on the Fin24 site