Daily Maverick has set out ten questions that Democratic Alliance (DA) finance head Mark Burke and Kastelo, the fintech he co-founded, face after a Gauteng High Court judgment on 28 July 2026 upheld the Reserve Bank’s investigation and its blocking of a Kastelo account. According to the Reserve Bank’s cross-border data, there is reasonable suspicion of at least R4bn in exchange-control contraventions between 4 August and 21 November 2025. The court made no finding of wrongdoing, and Burke has stepped aside from three parliamentary committee roles while the probe continues.
What the court ruled
The High Court found that the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) lawfully froze the account and may continue its investigation. SARB’s Financial Surveillance Department issued the blocking order on 24 November 2025. The court held that the Bank needed only a reasonable suspicion, not proof, and the judgment is not a finding that Kastelo or Burke broke any rule. The probe was triggered when Access Bank, where Kastelo held its funds, reported suspicious transactions.
The ten questions
The questions, put by Daily Maverick’s Ferial Haffajee, are directed at Kastelo’s owners and executives. In summary they ask:
- Why Kastelo used clients’ personal foreign-exchange allowances, and whether clients were investing for themselves or moving money offshore for the company’s business.
- Whether clients understood what was done in their names, including the opening of foreign accounts.
- Why clients were paid bonuses to make their allowances available.
- Why Kastelo lent clients money to use those allowances, and whether this was a simulated transaction to get around exchange controls.
- How clients earning about R15,000 a month qualified for loans of about R249,000.
- Who controlled the money and the forex flows, Kastelo or the client, given Kastelo’s role as a Treasury Outsourcing Company.
- Where the individual client instructions and the audit trail for each transaction are.
- How Kastelo explains the roughly R4bn moved offshore, including whose money it was and where it went.
- What Access Bank’s forensic review found, and how Kastelo responds.
- Whether Kastelo accurately described its activities to the Reserve Bank’s exchange-control unit in its compliance declarations.
The piece also raises political questions for Burke personally, including when he learned of the investigation, whether he recused himself from all relevant parliamentary meetings, and what form his interest in the company takes.
Burke’s response
Burke says he is not chairperson of Kastelo (Pty) Ltd and is not involved in its daily operations. He says he chaired the wider Kastelo group until February 2026 and resigned from the company in 2024 to pursue politics. In his words: “The High Court judgment does not make any finding of wrongdoing against Kastelo, nor myself.” The report notes that the investigation could take about two and a half more years.
Being asked to answer questions is a lower bar than being charged with anything, and worth distinguishing: the questions are Daily Maverick’s, not an order from the regulator, and the allegations remain allegations. For the Reserve Bank’s own role in exchange-control enforcement, see its website. For the follow-up on how this matter developed, see this site’s report on the DA’s wider governance scrutiny.
Source: Daily Maverick.
