VBS. Dewald van Rensburg

against Ramavhunga: ‘Bank of Namibia was a mess … I was not happy. I always said a mutual bank must not do cross-border transactions. I heard the rumours also. I did contact him [Ramavhunga] to say what are you doing? SME from what I understand, they put money in VBS. I did ask Phophi is this thing legit. He said, here’s the statement, we paid them back. We even called Sipho to check if this thing is legit. The audit came back and said it went back.’13

      As bad as it looks, VBS was hardly the most sordid cog in the money-laundering machine that spirited money out of SME Bank. In the story of VBS, however, SME has been overlooked as a demonstration of how the heist was not unique (although far more was stolen at VBS). It has also shown how this kind of crime easily crosses borders – as the VBS saga would do again later on.