By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Standard Bank of South Africa says documents the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) sent to lobby group AfriForum to prove it had settled legal costs bill, were authentic.
“Standard Bank confirms that the documentation circulating in the media, while on an outdated template, reflects genuine transactions which are not fraudulent. Standard Bank denies having confirmed that any proofs of payment in relation to transactions were doctored,” Standard Bank spokesperson Ross Linstrom said on Saturday morning.
Linstrom said the bank had initially sent an erroneous response to AfriForum stating the proof of payment document was fraudulent. He said the bank was conducting a probe into the inaccurate communication that was shared with AfriForum.
“We take this matter very seriously and apologise to the EFF. Safe for confirming that all the transactions queried by AfriForum with Standard Bank are genuine,” he said.
AfriForum’s Ernst van Zyl said on Saturday morning: “Standard Bank confirmed to us there were issues with the documents. Our previous communication with Standard Bank is confirmed in their statement, where they state that their response to AfriForum’s query was ‘erroneous’.
“We directed enquiries to the EFF about the origin of the payments and requested they send us proof of payment again directly from the bank. They refused.
“Standard Bank’s statement today only confirmed that the transactions were real. AfriForum has never disputed that we received funds, we made it very clear that the funds reflected.
AfriForum could face a defamation legal battle as the EFF is threatening to sue the organisation after it accused the party and attorneys of falsifying proof of payment of legal fees.