Banking group FirstRand had received no letter of resignation from its suspended director, Mac Maharaj, despite his wife's comments about his intention to resign this week, the group said on Sunday.

The bank's board is due to meet "early this week" to make a decision about how to proceed with its independent report into Maharaj and Maharaj's subsequent response.

He has tried to resign from the board of FirstRand once before. When the contoversy broke he tendered his resignation in March, but the FirstRand board turned it down. Instead it launched its own inquiry, which took four months to complete.

The strife around Maharaj, who is also the former transport minister, centres on allegations that he accepted gifts from businessman Schabir Shaik in 1998, before he quit his ministerial post.

Shaik's businesses, under Nkobi Holdings, were part of the consortium that won the multi-billion N3 toll road contract in 1999, at about the same time Maharaj was alleged to have received gifts from Shaik.

FirstRand has said the one toll road contract it did participate in as a lead financier was only a small part of its total portfolio of government-related financing work.

Maharaj is a non-executive director of FirstRand, which means that he does not take on operational duties at the bank. Company law does not make a distinction between non-executive directors and directors with full time operational roles but non-executive directors are broadly expected to be strong keepers of corporate governance standards following on from the release of the King II code on corporate governance.

Many of the banks have taken on figures who are seen as political heavyweights in the last few years. Most notably, Absa appointed Tokyo Sexwale and Standard Bank took on Saki Macozoma.

By hitching their wagons to big names the banks get a good ride, but they also take the fall when their famous directors are mired in disputes.

The Democratic Alliance welcomed Maharaj's reported decision to resign from his directorship with FirstRand.

The DA's Hendrik Schmidt said on Sunday that it appeared that there were higher levels of accountability within the private sector that contributed to Maharaj's decision to resign.

Schmidt said it was in the best interests of FirstRand to provide all the facts contained in the report because of its role in funding certain projects undertaken by the transport department.

"It is in the public's interest that all the facts and allegations are properly investigated. The public has a right to know whether there were any instances of corruption during his term of office, especially in respect of tenders relating to the N3 toll road or the issuing of new driver's licences."

With acknowledgements to Renée Bonorchis, Charles Phahlane and The Mercury.