Disgraced former VBS chairperson accepts 495-year sentence, effectively reduced to 15 years of imprisonment -- and sings like a canary for 70 pages.

In an explosive 70-page "witness statement", former VBS chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi has laid bare the corruption that rotted the bank from within.

Although he does preface his statement with an apology to all those affected, including depositors, stakeholders, shareholders, staff, members of the public and taxpayers, the statement is devoid of emotion. As early as page six, he flatly states: "We engaged in a web of corrupt activities."

All the information in this article has been sourced directly from Matodzi's statement. If he is to be believed, the people in the very top chain of management were all in cahoots, setting up shelf companies through which to facilitate fraudulent payments to themselves and remunerating one another for a conspiracy of silence.

A grenade less than 10% into Matodzi's statement is the mention of the former director-general of the National Treasury Dondo Mogajane. Mogajane is no longer in that position, but is now the chairperson of the Government Employees Pension Fund, which has significant assets.

Gundo Wealth, owned by Ralliom Razwinane, was appointed as an agent to source investment deposits for VBS. In 2017, municipalities started voicing complaints, on...