Hill-Lewis shields DA finance chief as Reserve Bank probes R4bn Kastelo transfers
DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis is defending party finance chair Mark Burke amid a Reserve Bank investigation into his former company, Kastelo. The central bank alleges the fintech firm circumvented exchange control regulations in transactions totaling R4bn.
Why it matters
The investigation involves significant financial regulatory compliance and potential political fallout for a major opposition party.
DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis has thrown his support behind the party’s federal finance chair, Mark Burke, as the Reserve Bank investigates his fintech company over about R4bn in transactions that allegedly circumvent exchange control rules.
Burke, one of the DA’s donors, is at the centre of a legal battle between Kastelo, the company he founded, and the South African Reserve Bank after the central bank moved to freeze some of its funds held with Access Bank.
Business Day reported on Monday that the Reserve Bank alleges Kastelo misrepresented its business activities to authorities in an attempt to circumvent South Africa’s exchange-control regime.
An affidavit by Reserve Bank investigator André Malherbe alleges that Kastelo’s business model was based on “conjecture and speculation” and raised concerns about the systematic use of third parties’ foreign investment and single discretionary allowances to externalise funds, the Business Day report stated.
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