A South African Reserve Bank investigator testified in court that his compliance review found no evidence of foreign-exchange violations by former defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
Evan Haezer, from the central bank's surveillance division, stated he made no adverse findings regarding the politician's transactions, despite allegations that she requested payments in US dollars to fund a trip to New York.
The testimony provides a significant procedural development in Mapisa-Nqakula's trial, where witnesses have previously described repeated cash handovers to the politician.
While the state witness alleged the request for dollar funding, the SARB's own enforcement division did not identify any breaches of exchange control regulations in its investigation.
This legal update arrives against a backdrop of broader financial sector scrutiny in South Africa.
The Constitutional Court recently dismissed the Competition Commission's decade-long case alleging foreign-exchange rigging involving 28 banks, effectively ending that major legal dispute.