News24 | DA does about-turn: Burke steps back from finance oversight roles

The DA has had second thoughts on the future of Mark Burke, whose company is under investigation by the SA Reserve Bank.

Gallo Images/Fani Mahuntsi

• The DA has had second thoughts about the future of Mark Burke, whose company is under investigation by the SA Reserve Bank, asking him to stand back from certain roles.
• On Tuesday, the DA defended Burke, saying there were no findings against him.
• Burke is confident that the Reserve Bank’s investigation will find the company did not violate the law.

The DA has done an about-turn on the role of its finance spokesperson, Mark Burke, announcing that he will step down from the role and all roles in Parliament’s finance cluster for as long as his company remains the subject of an inquiry by the SA Reserve Bank.

A short statement was issued by DA chief whip George Michalakis on Wednesday.

“After consultation with Dr Mark Burke, we have decided that, out of an abundance of caution, and to avoid any perceptions of a conflict of interest, he will no longer serve on the finance committee or in the finance cluster while a company he is a beneficiary of is the subject of an inquiry by the SARB. We have now effected that change,” said the statement.

Kingsley Wakelin will take the position of finance spokesperson. Wakelin already serves as an alternate member on the committees that Burke will now exit. These are the Standing Committee on Finance and the Standing Committee on Appropriations, which processes the national budget. Burke also serves on the DA’s federal executive as head of finance.

On Monday, it emerged publicly that a company of which Burke is an owner and founder, the investment firm Kastelo, was under investigation by the Reserve Bank for contravening foreign exchange control regulations. Kastelo’s bank account was frozen by the Reserve Bank at the beginning of December as an interim measure while the bank continued its investigation.

The Reserve Bank believes it has “reasonable suspicion” that Kastelo’s crypto arbitrage business – which used clients’ foreign exchange investment allowances to buy crypto assets overseas and resell them in SA, benefitting from the arbitrage of price differences – is illegal.

READ | DA closes ranks around Mark Burke, who says SARB probe will vindicate him

As Burke’s role in the finance committee is oversight of the Treasury and the Reserve Bank, the investigation exposed him to a conflict of interest.

On Tuesday, DA federal executive chair Ashor Sarupen said that Burke would not be asked to stand back from any of his roles because “there is no finding of wrongdoing against him” and the DA could not “treat him as though such a finding had already been made.”

Sarupen said the DA would not prejudge the investigation. DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis also went on record in an interview with TimesLIVE, defending Burke.

Burke said he was confident that neither he nor Kastelo had done anything wrong and that the investigation would find this.

READ | DA disputes leaked report as ex-finance chair confirms R300k monthly ‘top-ups’ to leaders

However, not everyone in the party agreed that this was the correct approach, as the DA has historically held itself, and others, to a higher standard of accountability for public representatives and officials than that used by other parties, particularly the ANC.

Burke is a significant member of the group of younger leaders, including Sarupen and Hill-Lewis, who took the reins of the party in April.