There is now a risk Malusi Gigaba may delay the implementation of the Fica Bill

There is now a risk that the Minister of Finance, Malusi Gigaba, may delay the implementation of the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Bill [B33D-2015], which is one of the most important legislative weapons in the fight against corruption in South Africa.

The Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Bill provides for the ongoing monitoring of the business relationships, sources of wealth and sources of funds of “domestic prominent influential persons”, and family members and close associates of “domestic prominent influential persons”, in South Africa.

What this means is that President Jacob Zuma and his most important clients, the Guptas, are going to feel the heat as their business relationships, sources of wealth and sources of funds are subjected to ongoing monitoring by financial institutions in South Africa.

However, the battle is far from over and there could still be significant delays in implementing the legislation because, despite being signed into law by President Jacob Zuma, the legislation only actually commences on a date to be determined by the minister and published in the Government Gazette.

The Financial Intelligence Centre must, for example, still produce an official list of “domestic prominent influential persons” and of family members and known close associates of “domestic prominent influential persons”.

This will be a massive task because the list of “domestic prominent influential persons” includes, for example, senior executives, as well as family members and close associates of senior executives, of all companies supplying goods and services above a threshold amount, which must be determined by the minister and published in the Government Gazette.

There are also doubts about whether the Financial Intelligence Centre, which only has a budget of R289 million for 2017/18, will have the resources to effectively implement the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Bill.

The minister will no doubt be under political pressure to delay the implementation of the legislation to protect his political master’s most important clients, the Guptas.

The minister should, therefore, take decisive action and set out clear timeframes and budgets for the implementation of the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Bill.

Whatever the case, we will have to very carefully monitor the implementation of the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Bill.

And I will, therefore, be requesting the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Yunus Carrim, to schedule a meeting to probe the readiness of the Financial Intelligence Centre to implement the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Bill in South Africa.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 29 April 2017