By Joe van Zyl Bedfordview, South Africa [EMAIL PROTECTED] As a shareholder of the South African Reserve Bank, I have directed questions to the bank in respect of the bank's involvement in gold swaps and collateral agreements, but the bank refused to make any information available. I requested Peter George to have questions in Parliament directed to the minister of finance, Trevor Manuel. Manuel is also the chairman of the Board of Governors of the World Bank. The questions that were asked in Parliament by Mr S. N. Swart, member of Parliament of the ACDP, are herewith attached, as well as the answers thereto by Minister Manuel on August 27, 2001. (Manuel did not answer all the questions put to him.) I am not passing any comment at this stage on the answers of the minister, other than to refer the matter to my attorneys with a view of taking the matter further. The South African government was very concerned when these questions were asked in Parliament. It is clear from the answers that the minister is covering up. Further, note that finance minister stated that he was assured by the South African Reserve Bank that the bank's activities were considered in respect of their possible impact on the gold price. While no question was asked whether the activities of the Reserve Bank would have had any effect on the gold price, that the minister referred to this in his answer is clearly indicative that such gold swaps had an effect on the price of gold. I trust that the above information will be of assistance. * * * � NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PARLIAMENT QUESTION NUMBER 1250 QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY 29 JUNE 2001 � � MR. S.N. SWART (ACDP) TO ASK THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: 1) Whether the South African Reserve Bank has been involved in any (a) gold swap, (b) gold collateral and/or (c) gold lease transactions, contracts and/or agreements, regardless of whether or not they may were concluded in its own name, on behalf of the South African Government or any agent or nominee; if so, 2) Whether he will furnish details of each such transaction, contract and agreement in which the South African Reserve Bank is or was involved, directly or indirectly, either for its own account or on behalf of any South African gold producers, persons, organisations, central bank, bullion bank, government, agent and/or nominee, with any foreign central bank, international organisation, including the International Monetary Fund,, the World Bank and the Bank of International Settlements, the Exchange Stabilisation Fund in the USA, foreign bullion bank, including Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Citibank, and/or foreign government or its nominee during the period 1 January 1992 up to the latest specified date for which information is available; If not, why not; if so, (a) in respect of each such transaction, contract or agreement, (i) on what date was it concluded, (ii) how many ounces of gold were involved, (iii) what was its (aa) value and (bb) duration, (iv) what rate was agreed upon and (v) what was the identity of each person and/or party involved and (b) what was the total value of the combined transactions (i) at the time of conclusion and (ii) as at the latest specified date for which information is available? REPLY: 1) In terms of the South African Reserve Bank Act, 1989 (Act No. 90 of 1989) ("the Act"), section 10(1)(k), the South African Reserve Bank ("the SARB"), may "buy, sell or deal in precious metals". In terms of section 10(1)(s) of this Act, the SARB may "perform such other functions of bankers and financial agents as central banks customarily may perform." In terms of these powers, the SARB has been involved in gold swap transactions over the time period under consideration, viz as from 1 January 1992. That is, gold was swapped for foreign currency from time to time for liquidity purposes in preference to selling gold. To the extent that the SARB had outstanding gold swaps, this was reflected by way of a reduction in the physical gold on the SARB's balance sheet. Currently the SARB has no gold swaps outstanding. The SARB has infrequently made gold deposits with banks, primarily to offset the cost of gold borrowing. The SARB currently has no gold on deposit. In fact, the SARB is at present a borrower of gold from the market. It should be noted that, over the period under consideration, the SARB was active in the international bullion market as it sold, until fairly recently, the overwhelming bulk of South Africa's gold production. 2) The Minister of Finance and the SARB will not furnish details of each such transaction. The counter-parties to these transactions were internationally recognised bullion market participants operating in the wholesale bullion market over that period. The transactions were spread amongst these institutions, who were approved bullion counterparties of the SARB and who typically provided the SARB with credit lines. The second part of this question relates to reasons why the details regarding each transaction are not divulged. By virtue of section 33, Preservation of secrecy, of the above-mentioned Act, detailed information on these transactions is regarded as confidential and may not be disclosed Moreover, it would be contrary to generally accepted international banking practice to divulge detailed information regarding such transactions and agreements. The SARB has also assured the Minister of Finance that the possible impact on the gold price of any of the SARB's activities or transactions were and are always carefully considered given the importance of gold to the South African economy. ________________________ If you benefit from GATA's dispatches, please consider making a financial contribution. GATA welcomes contributions as follows. By check: Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer 7 Villa Louisa Road Manchester, CT 06043-7541 USA By credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and Discover) over the Internet: http://www.gata.org/creditcard.html By bank wire: Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. c/o Savings Bank of Manchester 923 Main St. Manchester, CT 06040 USA Bank routing number 211-170-185 For account number 9500-574-053 By Gold Money: http://www.GoldMoney.com Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. Account number 50-08-58-L By E-Gold: http://www.e-gold.com Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. Account number 110915 GATA is a civil rights and educational organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code and contributions to it are tax-deductible in the United States. -END- ------------------------ Yahoo! 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