Looting LATEST: R119 million ‘war chest’ stolen from ATMs, banks

Looting was a hugely profitable venture for organised criminals who grabbed more than R119 million from bank safes and ATMs during the unrest, data released by the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) has now revealed. 

Sabric CEO Nischal Mewalall warned that this cash comprised millions in unsoiled notes that were now a “war chest” to fund more organised crime and bribe corrupt government officials.

SABRIC said it had assessed the threats, and quantified the losses incurred by the banking industry because of the looting and civil unrest, which took place from 9 July to 17 July 2021 in both provinces. The civil unrest saw a breakdown in the rule of law that resulted in loss of life and jobs as well as the widespread theft and destruction of infrastructure. 

“There is great concern over the impact of intelligence failures and the state’s response to the eight consecutive days of civil unrest that resulted in unprecedented destruction of banking infrastructure in South Africa,” Mewalall said.

He said Sabric could confirm that between 9 and 17 July, at least 1227 ATMs and 310 bank branches were vandalised or destroyed during the looting and unrest. Of these, 256 ATMs were breached – broken into using force – and 36 ATMs were physically stolen from their sites and have not yet been recovered.

 In addition, 82  safes inside branches were breached during the looting. Physical cash stolen from ATMs and bank branches amount to R119 400 243 to date. This amount excludes all further infrastructure damage and replacement costs. 

“The theft of R119 400 243 in hard cash is very concerning. Not all notes are dye-stained and millions in unsoiled notes will be injected back into the economy. This money is the proceeds of crime and there is now a war chest available to fund more organised crime, to corrupt more officials and to promote lawlessness.” Mewalall said.

He said the effectiveness of South Africa’s anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime would be critical in detecting the individuals behind these crimes. He said Sabric urged businesses to be stringent about cash threshold reporting, to not engage in facilitating suspicious transactions and immediately report any suspicious and unusual transactions to the Financial Intelligence Centre