Issues concerning Saambou Bank Limited are a matter of great public interest and concern.An article appeared in Business Day today under the title "Saambou scandal erupts as secret KPMG report fingers executives." The article contains a number of allegations that are factually and contextually incorrect and may lead to misconceptions being raised in the public mind. We are committed to acting in the best public interest and we wish to reiterate that all depositors of Saambou Bank Limited have been granted full access to their funds, including interest thereon. BACKGROUNDSaambou Bank was placed under curatorship on 9 February 2002. Mr John Louw was appointed as curator in terms of section 69 of the Banks Act. During the course of the curatorship, Mr Louw became aware of certain issues that pointed to the possibility that undesirable practices may have been adopted relating to the capital stuctures of Saambou Bank Limited and the various group employee incentive schemes funded by Saambou Bank Limited. He brought these concerns to the attention of the Registrar of Banks who thereupon appointed Mr Herman de Beer of KPMG to perform an inspection in terms of section 6 of the Banks Act into these matters. The contents of section 6 reports are intended for internal supervisory purposes. Consequently, these reports are not made public. Based on the findings of such reports, decisions are taken by the supervisory authorities on appropriate follow-up action, which could include the handing over of information to prosecuting authorities should it appear that offences may have been committed. Arising from his inspection, KPMG produced a draft report relating to these specific issues without naming any individual executive or other employee. This report is still in the process of being finalised, whereupon it will be presented to the Registrar of Banks in final format. Any further actions by the Registrar will depend on and be determined by the contents of the final report. Consequently, we have not yet handed any report regarding this matter to the Minister of Justice. This report does not cover any issues relating to alleged money laundering or insider trading. The allegations that findings may have been withheld, ostensibly for purpose of influencing the disposal of assets, are without foundation since the subject of the investigation has no bearing on the sale and realisation of the assets. ALLEGATIONS CONTAINED IN BUSINESS DAY ARTICLE Money LaunderingWe are not aware of any circumstances that may be perceived as money laundering. However, some time after the imposition of curatorship on Saambou Bank Limited, a series of events took place that resulted in a subsidiary of Saambou Bank (under curatorship) suffering a loss of some R1, 5 million. A forensic investigation was performed into these events and the findings of the investigation were handed to the Asset Forfeiture Unit, which subsequently instituted criminal action against an individual. A former employee of the relevant subsidiary is currently facing criminal charges pertaining to the amount in the Pretoria High Court, case number 24541 / 2002. Accordingly, the matter is in the public domain. This matter arose subsequent to the imposition of curatorship and accordingly played no role in the demise of the then Saambou Bank Limited. Insider TradingDuring the latter half of 2001 and quite separately from the above events, some 6 months prior to the imposition of curatorship on Saambou Bank Limited, a chain of events unfolded which led the Financial Services Board ("FSB") to institute an investigation into allegations of Insider Trading by certain directors and employees of Saambou Holdings Limited. We were not directly involved in the insider trading investigation, nor were we involved in the compilation of any report pertaining to it. It is our understanding that the final report by the FSB into the matter has yet to be handed over to the prosecuting authorities. In the event of any prosecution being instituted, flowing from this or any other matter relating to Saambou, we w