Oakbay seeks FIC information
COMPANIES in the Gupta family’s Oakbay group have launched a court case against the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) to access more information about reports of suspicious and unusual transactions revealed in a court case recently by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Pressure has been mounting on the Gupta family and their companies‚ first with the closure of their bank accounts by the four big banks earlier this year and then the release of the public protector’s state of capture report on November 2, detailing serious allegations against them.
Just prior to that‚ last month‚ there was the bombshell release of a list of 72 suspicious and unusual transactions with a value of at least R6.8-billion over four years‚ in a certificate from the FIC.
The certificate was on Friday annexed to the founding papers in Gordhan’s case‚ which is asking the Pretoria High Court to declare that the finance minister has no power or obligation to intervene in the relationships between the Guptas and the banks.
Oakbay has publicly said it could defend the propriety of every single transaction listed‚ but is yet to file its answering papers in court.
Instead, it has launched a new case‚ against the FIC only‚ asking that an authorised representative of the Oakbay group have access to and obtain detailed information with regard to the certificate.
Oakbay acting chief executive Ronica Ragavan said in an affidavit that since the certificate had been released there was a huge media response‚ with reports slamming the Gupta family and which impacted on the business of the Oakbay companies.
The response came despite there being no adverse criminal findings against them and despite the fact that the state of capture report did not make one single adverse conclusion against the Oakbay companies or the Gupta family‚ she said.
“The applicants have a clear right to protect their commercial interests and good name,” Ragavan said.