The following is a recap of the work we’ve done on the Apartheid banks. Otherwise known as Belgium’s Kredietbank (now known as KBC Group) and its sister bank in Luxembourg (then known as KBL, but changed its name to Quintet Private Bank in 2020 shortly after Open Secrets handed over its docket to the NPA).

These Apartheid banks are responsible for laundering money for the South African apartheid state, that allowed the apartheid regime to secretly buy weapons despite mandatory UN arms sanctions in the 1970s and 1980s. These weapons were essential for the apartheid state’s violent domestic repression, and for the wars and attempts to destabilise other governments and liberation movements in southern Africa.

Not only was the banks’ assistance vital to keeping the apartheid government in power, but they also profited from these transactions – building their companies on the suffering of millions of people. Apartheid is not only evil in practice, but it is also a crime against humanity. This means, like other crimes such as murder, prosecution of aiders and abetters of crimes against humanity can happen at any time, including decades later.