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President Michael
Sata has reversed the sale of Finance Bank to FirstRand Group of South Africa.
The President has
since ordered that the financial institution be given back to the Mathani group
of companies.
The move comes
barely 3 days after President Sata constituted a commission of inquiry to probe
the 27 billion kwacha transaction.
Speaking today at
State House, Mr Sata said preliminary findings indicate that there was no legal
documentation in the respective transaction.
Meanwhile, First
National Bank –FNB- Zambia Chief Executive Officer, Sarel Van Zyl says the Bank
is disappointed with the decision.
He however says FNB
will respect the President’s decision while awaiting for official notification
from government.
Mr Van was speaking
to Muvi TV news in a telephone interview.
Meanwhile, the bank
has also clarified that its work with the Bank of Zambia was to provide
experienced managers to assist in managing the operations of Finance Bank.
The South African
financial institution also says the central bank then and subsequently
conducted a transparent process within its mandate and appropriate legal framework.
FNB has further
maintained that the sale of Finance bank was in fact a proposal and it still
believes that the due process of the law was followed.
This is contained
in an emailed statement by FNB Head of Corporate Communications, Virginia Magapatona.
But former Finance
Bank Board Chairman, Rajan Mahtani has profoundly thanked President Sata for
reversing the sale of the financial institution.
Finance Bank
Limited was this year sold to First-Rand Group of South Africa after it was
seized by the Bank of Zambia for alleged unsound financial practices.
The central also
nullified the shareholding structure before further announcing its sale.
A visibly happy Dr
Mahtani has since assured Finance Bank employees of their jobs.
Dr Mahtani has
stated that Finance bank is in fact worth 200 million dollars instead of the
paltry 5 million dollars it was sold at.
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