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Evidence uncovered by Open Secrets shows that two European banks were at the centre of the international arms money-laundering machine that violated arms sanctions against the apartheid regime. Open Secrets, in partnership with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), took the fight for accountability for these economic crimes to Europe using an international accountability mechanism known as the “OECD NCP” mechanism. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is one of the few international mechanisms available to hold businesses accountable for their role in human rights abuses.
The OECD is an international body, tasked with ensuring that companies comply with international law and respect peoples’ human rights. It does this through “National Contact Points” (NCPs) in various developed countries. We laid a complaint against KBC Group and Quintet Private Bankers (then KBL) in terms of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. In laying the complaint with the Belgium and Luxembourg NCPs, Open Secrets and CALS brought the fight for accountability directly to the banks’ doorstep. In a drawn-out process, riddled with bias and conflicts of interest, we eventually lost and our complaint was never investigated, despite overwhelming evidence and a recommendation that it be investigated by UN Independent Expert Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky.
Justice for apartheid economic crime: Start with the bankers Today many civil society organisations jointly call on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to crack down on corporations who assisted the apartheid state and profited from economic crimes under apartheid. To date they have escaped any accountability for their crimes in supporting and sustaining apartheid –…
Open Secrets and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies | 29 April 2020 | Open Secrets and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) share a common goal of holding businesses accountable for their complicity in crimes against humanity which includes the crime of apartheid. On 27 April 2018, CALS and Open Secrets laid a…
Statement – United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner | GENEVA | 27 April 2020 | OECD Member States should consider establishing a mechanism to prevent conflict of interest of their National Contact Points (NPC’s) corporate review process to strengthen the procedure and its credibility. Conflicts of interest must be prevented in order…
Ilham Rahoot |Mail & Guardian | 21 February 2020 | The floor has been reopened. The past two weeks’ furore over FW de Klerk’s denial and hasty withdrawal of his statement that “the system of apartheid is not a crime against humanity”, as well as the inquest into activist Neil Aggett’s murder in prison, have…
Lloyd Gedye | New Frame | 21 February 2020 | The South African History Archive’s battle with the South African Reserve Bank to access information pertaining to alleged financial crimes will go to the Supreme Court of Appeal. What can the South African Reserve Bank’s archive of records tell South Africans about apartheid-era economic crime?…
Stef Arends | Orig jaar dienden twee Zuid-Afrikaanse ngo’s klacht in tegen KBC Groep. Die bank voerde grootschalige witwasoperaties uit ten tijde van het apartheidsregime, en zorgde daarmee dat een internationaal wapenembargo decennialang kon worden omzeild. Het OESO-contactpunt voor ethisch internationaal ondernemen weigert de klacht echter in behandeling te nemen. De apartheid zou te lang…
ENCA | JOHANNESBURG Two NGO’s say they are disappointed with a decision not to investigate banks for allegedly supporting the apartheid government. The Center for Applied Legal Studies and Open Secrets submitted a complaint about the role of European banks during apartheid. Tumelo Matlawa from the centre for applied legal studies says they have evidence…
SABC Digital News | 31 July 2019 Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has denied claims that she has been flagged for having received US $5000 from the Guptas 5 years ago. Mkhwebane dismissed the allegations on social media as fake and has demanded to see bank statements. The allegations come from the global non profit group,…
MEDIA RELEASE 31 July 2019 EUROPEAN AUTHORITIES REFUSE TO INVESTIGATE APARTHEID’S BANKS More than one year after submitting a complaint detailing the role of European banks in supporting and profiting from apartheid, CALS and Open Secrets have been informed that authorities in Belgium and Luxembourg are refusing to investigate these economic crimes. With no clear…
Shaazia Ebrahim | A number of international banks funded the apartheid regime and its military through credit. It has been one year since Open Secrets, along with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), demanded accountability from the international banks in Belgium and Luxembourg that financed apartheid. The organisations submitted a complaint to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) National Contact Points (NCPs)…
Tabitha Paine | Lee-Ann Bruce Without the help of European banks, the apartheid government would not have been able to buy arms and continue its campaign of violence and oppression. Between 1977 and 1994, countless people lost their lives while the banks essentially profited from their deaths. What can be done to hold the banks…
One year after CALS and Open Secrets brought to light evidence that European banks profited from apartheid, no decision has been made on whether to investigate
Hennie van Vuuren | Khadija Sharife | Mark Anderson Yahya Jammeh once said he would rule the Gambia for “one billion years”. His rule proved somewhat shorter — he lost the presidential elections in 2017 after 22 years in power. Since then, a massive clean-up of Gambian institutions has begun. But the cost of his…
Joint press release by Open Secrets and CALS UN Independent Expert weighs in on OECD complaint, and NGOs challenge conflicts of interest in Belgian decision-making body A heavy blow has been dealt to two European banks at the centre of the apartheid-era international arms money machine. The implicated banks are KBC Group (previously Kredietbank) and…
If you want some more information about Open Secrets and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies’ recent OECD complaint laid against Kredietbank (now the KBC Group) and its subsidiary in Luxembourg, read our useful factsheet below.
Michael Marchant | Khuraisha Patel 19 April 2018 Global corporations which propped up the apartheid regime and profited in return have not been held to account. This remains a central challenge in terms of the unfinished business of South Africa’s transition to democracy. Starting on 24 April, as South Africa prepares to commemorate 24 years…
Open Secrets in partnership with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) are taking the fight for accountability for South Africa’s historic economic crimes to Europe using international accountability frameworks.
