The liquidator of the defunct VBS Mutual Bank, which went under after it became a playground for politicians and their associates, has paid R458m to the bank’s creditors, including municipalities that unlawfully invested money in the bank, reports Business Day.

The payments, described as dividends, mark the second time the liquidator has paid out since he took over the bank’s affairs, after payments of R159m in 2022 – amounting to seven cents in the rand to proven concurrent creditors.

Anoosh Rooplal, who is on the hunt for more cash looted from the bank, said the R458m constitutes 20 cents in the rand. About R291m of the amount will be paid to municipalities.

‘This is a substantial dividend, and the team is verifying all concurrent creditors’ bank accounts. Payments to all verified concurrent creditors commenced during November 2024 and we anticipate to complete this process by end of January 2025,’ Rooplal said.

‘We are very pleased with the success that our collection efforts have delivered for creditors, despite that massive fraud and theft of about R2.3bn was perpetrated against this bank. This second dividend distribution brings the current payment to concurrent creditors to R617m,’ he said.

Rooplal said he expected to make further payments as his team continues to trace and recover the bank’s assets.

‘The distribution of the second dividend does not affect the loan account holders, that is, those clients (who) still owe the bank monies, whose contracts remain valid and enforceable,’ said Rooplal, according to Business Day.

‘The liquidation team continues to collect monies due to it, from loan account holders and depend on various legal applications that were initiated in order to recover all monies that are owed to the estate,’ he said.

‘Loan account holders are urged to continue to pay their monthly instalments. This is required in order to avoid recovery action being taken against default payers.’

Full Business Day report