International Banks Must Be Held Accountable For Their Role In State Capture, Says Peter Hain

Riyaz Patel

Peter Hain, the former British MP who served in the cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, told the Zondo Commission how state capture was allegedly facilitated by international financial institutions, corporates, and foreign governments.

Hain – who was was born in Kenya, grew up in South Africa, and moved to London aged 16 – testified before Judge Raymond Zondo of the role international firms played in the rampant fraud and corruption playing out in the public sector over the past decade.

He said global banks, HSBC, Standard Charter and the Bank of Baroda, who were said to have allegedly assisted the notorious, corruption-linked Gupta family, were culpable for the capture of the state.

Hein says a lot of governments, including the United Kingdom, give “a lot of lip service” to anti-corruption and yet the Guptas