Guptas dismiss claims of suspect transfers
THE CONTROVERSIAL Gupta family said they could explain all the transactions on their accounts that the Financial Intelligence Centre and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan flagged as suspicious.
The family described Gordhan’s affidavit in his court application as nonsense and accused the minister of playing political games.
They and their business Oakbay yesterday said all the transactions listed in Gordhan’s application and annexure were legitimate transactions and, therefore, they could explain them.
Seventy-two transactions amounting to R6.8 billion were flagged by the Financial Intelligence Centre for investigation, which Gordhan has submitted to the high court in Pretoria.
He has applied for a declaratory order that he is not legally allowed to intervene in Oakbay’s fight with the four major banks over their closure of all Gupta-linked accounts and the cutting of ties with them.
Gordhan’s revelations have placed pressure on the Guptas and their allies at a time when information about their involvement with politicians is expected in the state capture report of the public protector.
Oakbay’s chief executive Nazeem Howa resigned on Monday, the day after it was revealed he has been pressuring Gordhan to intervene in Oakbay’s fight with the banks.
An official statement claimed he had resigned due to ill-health.
But the Guptas hit back yesterday, saying Gordhan’s revelations were “undiluted nonsense and appear to be little more than the usual political games”.
Their lawyers, Van der Merwe Associates, said the Guptas were delighted to have been cited as respondents because that would help them clear their names.
They said six of the transactions on the list, related to Optimum Mine, took place before they had control of the mine while others were legitimate transactions approved by the relevant authorities.
“The remaining 17 transactions (totalling R719 million) were also all for legitimate purposes and are absolutely not suspicious.
“We will disclose these transactions in full once the full analysis has been completed. All the 72 transactions were approved and cleared by the respective banks processing the transactions,” the lawyers said.
They said a flagged transaction of R1.3bn was necessitated by the banks’ closure of their accounts, and there was therefore nothing suspicious about it.
The family said they had referred the transactions listed by Gordhan to their auditors and would clarify all of them.
‘It’s all undiluted nonsense and political games’