Gordhan's time to face the Guptas

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

Published Mar 28, 2017

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Pretoria - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is in for a tough time on

Tuesday when he asks the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, for a declaratory order

that he cannot interfere with the decision of the country’s four major banks

not to do business with the Guptas and their companies.

Not only had President Jacob Zuma, meanwhile, joined the

court proceedings as an interested party in the application between Oakbay

Investments and Gordhan, but the Gupta’s company Sahara, in additional heads of

argument, seeks a personal punitive costs order against Gordhan.

The minister was not at court at the start of the

proceedings and it is not expected that he will attend. There is also no need

for him to be there, as his case will be advanced by his legal team, headed by

Advocate Jeremy Gauntlet senior counsel. Neither of the Gupta family are in

court at this stage. There are about 28 advocates in total in

court, of which several are on a watching brief.

The application is being heard by a full bench, including

Judge President Dunstan Mlambo and Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba.

Sahara meanwhile in its papers accused the minister of

embarking on a “frolic of his own” and of trying to score political points by

pressing ahead with his application.

Read also:  Gupta's affidavit has no merit - Gordhan

Zuma, in his application to join the proceedings, argued

that he would be directly affected in any declaratory order the court may

grant.

He said Standard Bank, the 17th respondent in the

application, asked that no member of the executive, including the president, should

be allowed to intervene in the legal tussle between the banks and the Guptas.

Zuma said Standard Bank cannot ask for a declaratory

order excluding him or any cabinet minister from intervening in the closure of

the accounts as he was not cited as a party to the proceedings.

Sahara, cited as the 14th respondent, meanwhile in its

additional heads of argument said Gordhan approached this court for declaratory

relief in circumstances where there is no dispute between the parties.

Argument

Advocate Rafik Bhana SC, argued that not a single party

contends that the minister has any power that permits him to intervene in a

private banking relationship where a bank decides to close the accounts of any

of their clients, for whatever reason, no matter its unlawfulness.

“Despite this, the minister persists in asking this court

to exercise to exercise a discretion in his favour. The question is why.”

Bhana said, unless this court acknowledged the political

context in which Gordhan’s application is brought and recognised that this

application is part of his own political strategy to pre-empt action by the

Cabinet – in particular, the president – this court will be in danger of

hearing an application that has no business being ventilated before it.

Bhana said the refusal by Gordhan to withdraw his

application betrayed his real intent.

According to him, the declaratory order, if granted, will

assist Gordhan in his political fight with the president and the cabinet.

“This court must fiercely guard against this and should

dismiss the minister’s application for attempting to drag it into a political

fight….where the involvement would be inappropriate and set a dangerous

precedent,” Bhana said in his heads of argument.

Sahara will ask that the court dismiss Gordhan’s

application and that that the minister must personally fork out the legal

costs, on a punitive scale.

Read also:  Standard Bank intervenes in Gordhan-Gupta fray

Gordhan, in his application, that R6.8 billion in

payments made by the Gupta’s companies have been reported to authorities as

suspicious.

Several banks, including Standard Bank, Nedbank, Absa and

First National Bank as well as companies last year cut ties with the Gupta

brother’s Oakbay Investments.

The Guptas said they never asked Gordhan to intervene in

their relationship with the banks and that the simply asked for his assistance.

In an earlier statement issued by the Gupta family

lawyer, Van Der Merwe Associates, in response to Gordhan’s affidavit, the

family said they welcomed the chance to clear their name in court.

They said the application is flawed as the 72

transactions flagged by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), were approved

and cleared by the respective banks which processed the transactions.

IOL

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