Johannesburg – The Financial Services Board (FSB) is probing certain trades made in the hours before former finance minister Pravin Gordhan was recalled from an investor roadshow and then dismissed, an official said on Tuesday.
The JSE said last month it was probing the trades involving currency futures and would forward its findings to the FSB once they were finalised.
On March 27, news broke that President Jacob Zuma had ordered Gordhan to return immediately from a trip to Britain and the US, roiling local markets. Gordhan was later dismissed in a cabinet reshuffle.
“The investigation is ongoing,” Solly Keetse, the head of market abuse at the FSB, told Reuters, adding that the FSB would make its findings known in due course.
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The rand weakened about 2.5 percent ahead of the news, according to Thomson Reuters data, falling further after the recall was confirmed, while the banks index on the JSE fell 4.73 percent.