JOHANNESBURG - The Gupta business group is
opposing the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) application to freeze the
R1.75 billion mine rehabilitation funds for two of their coal mines.
OUTA's
Chief Operating Officer, Ben Theron said that “0ur application is being opposed
by the trustees, Pushpaveni Govender, Optimum Coal Mine (Pty) Ltd and
Koornfontein Mines (Pty) Ltd. Whilst OUTA succeeded in preserving the trusts'
funds as is evident from the interim court order, the merits of the matter are
still to be fully ventilated in court on 7 and 8 December 2017”.
"Our
legal team has prepared a strong case to keep the rehab funds frozen. It is
important that actions of this nature be seen through to the end so as to
ensure that the rehabilitation funds land up in the right hands and that they
are used for their sole purpose of restoring the damaged environment,"
Theron said.
OUTA last
week succeeded in obtaining an interim order from the Pretoria High Court which
directs the Bank of Baroda to continue to hold the trust funds of the Optimum
Mine Rehabilitation Trust and the Koornfontein Mine Rehabilitation Trust in
interest-bearing accounts in the trusts' names.
Both the
Bank of Baroda
and Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane agreed to abide by the
court's decision. Minister Zwane served an explanatory affidavit setting out
the importance of safeguarding these trust funds.
According
to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act and the National
Environmental Management Act, mine rehabilitation funds cannot be used for
purposes other than managing the environmental damage caused by mining
activities. These funds must be used to restore and rehabilitate the damaged
area when the mine gets to the end of its life.
The
application was brought in the Pretoria High Court on September 21 just hours
after the Guptas lost an urgent application to interdict the Bank of Baroda
from closing their bank accounts. Since then, the Guptas have not only applied
for leave to appeal the judgment closing their accounts but they also argued
their further urgent application to keep their accounts open on 28 and 29
September.
Judgment
was reserved until 9 October at the latest. In the interim, the Bank of Baroda
was ordered to keep the other bank accounts, excluding the frozen rehab fund
accounts, operational pending the judgment.