The Managing Director of Trustco Group Holding and Trustco Bank, Quinton van Rooyen, says the Bank of Namibia’s decision to immediately suspend Trustco Bank for a period of six months prejudices Namibians.

Van Rooyen said this in an affidavit filed at the Windhoek High Court, in an urgent application in which he wants an urgent interim interdict preventing BoN from implementing a decision it took on 18 August to suspend Trustco Bank.

The application was heard on Thursday by Judge Boas Usiku. Van Rooyen wants the interdict order, pending the review application, which seeks to set aside the suspension. According to him, the BoN decision is unlawful, unreasonable, unfair, and irrational and undermines the Constitution and principles of natural justice.

“The suspension is the latest act in a string of BoN’s recent actions that are aimed at, and will lead to, the demise of Trustco Bank. BoN’s earlier actions include a directive issued by it under section 56(2) of the Banking Act on 25 July 2022 and an application for the winding up of Trustco Bank, which is opposed by Trustco Bank, ('the Liquidation’),” Van Rooyen said.

The suspension, he reiterated, will unduly prejudice thousands of members of the public.

“As of the date of the Final Suspension Notice on 18 August 2023, Trustco Bank was holding N.dollars 18.9 million in inter-company funds. The result of the suspension decision is that the respective TGH group companies will not have access to their funds and this, given the sum of money involved, will have a severe impact on their operations which would include the payment of operational expenses that fall due on 25 August 2023,” Van Rooyen said.

Meanwhile, BoN Governor Johannes !Gawaxab is currently attending the BRICS summit in South Africa and as such could not file an affidavit. Instead, BoN’s Director for Banking Supervision, Ancois Plaatjie, submitted an affidavit seeking adequate time for the bank to file its replies.

According to her, Trustco did not notify BoN about their intention to file the urgent application. As such, their lawyers could not properly consult the relevant people at BoN and draft papers, Plaatjie said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency