‘Gordhan’s affidavit is flawed’ - Guptas

Ajay, left, and Atul Gupta pictured in this file image.

Ajay, left, and Atul Gupta pictured in this file image.

Published Jan 20, 2017

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 Johannesburg – Lawyers acting on behalf of Oakbay Investments – which is owned by the controversial Gupta family – on Friday

filed an affidavit with the Pretoria High Court.

The affidavit, in response to one lodged by Finance

Minister Pravin Gordhan last year, says Gordhan’s affidavit is flawed.

In a statement issued by lawyers Van der Merwe &

Associates, Oakbay argues Gordhan’s “superfluous application is riddled with

factual and legal errors”.

Last October, Gordhan revealed in a court affidavit that

R6.8 billion in payments made by Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, companies they

controlled and other individuals with the same surname had been reported to the

authorities as suspicious since 2012.

The minister had approached the court to ask it to

confirm that he had no power to invervene in banks’ relationships with its

customers.

Oakbay has previously said all 72 transactions were

approved by the banks processing them.

Several banks and companies cut ties last year with

Oakbay, without publicly disclosing their reasons. They included South Africa’s

top four banks: Standard Bank, Nedbank, Barclays Africa’s Absa, FNB and

Standard Bank.

Last April, the government told Gordhan and two other

cabinet ministers to contact the banks to discuss their decision to cease doing

business with the Gupta companies.

The banks refused to give details, saying their dealings

with clients were confidential.

A document from Murray Mitchell, the director of the

Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), listed 72 suspicious transaction reports

implicating members of the Gupta family and their companies, some of which

comprised multiple entries for which no amount was listed. He did not specify

why the transactions were considered suspect.

Gordhan asked the banks to provide confidential reports

made to the FIC in an open court, detailing suspicious transactions, to

determine if there was any substance to Oakbay’s claim that the banks acted

improperly.

On Friday, Oakbay said Gordhan’s “reliance on the list of

72 purported ‘suspicious transaction reports’ is misplaced and the minister’s

application is supported by a flawed analysis and a faulty factual record”.

The statement added Oakbay has never suggested that the minister

is required to intervene in the bank-customer relationship. “There is no

contested legal issue here and there is never any reason for the minister to

bring this application.”

Read also: Standard

Bank intervenes in Gordhan-Gupta fray

Oakbay says Gordhan could simply have declined to do

anything in the exercise of his legal discretion.

“Instead, he has asked the court to confirm that he does

not have to do anything.”

It adds Gordhan has asked the court to insert itself into

the functioning of the executive branch. “It would be bizarre if every

empowered government official receiving a request for assistance or counsel

races to court to seek a declaration that he/she does not have to act on the

request.”

Read also:  Oakbay

refutes Gordhan's application

Oakbay adds it has attempted to gain the information it

needs to prove that each and every transaction is legitimate and above board,

and engaged an international investigative firm – Nardello & Co – to review

the transactions.

It says, without providing a copy of the report, that

there is not enough information about the 72 suspicious transaction reports to

identify them in the books and records of Oakbay Group or the personal bank

accounts of members of the Gupta family.

“Two-thirds of the allegedly suspicious transactions

occurred after the time when the banks had already decided to terminate their

relationship with Oakbay,” it adds.

Oakbay also says the Financial Intelligence Centre’s

release of the information was unlawful and, as a result of its arguments, the

court should decline the relief and dismiss Gordhan’s application with costs.

“Furthermore, the timing of the Minister’s application

supports the Oakbay Group’s suspicions that the application is politically

motivated and is part of the minister’s ongoing plan to diminish the Oakbay

Group and the Gupta family and to damage their hard-earned South African

business.”

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