Guptas to oppose application after Gordhan snub

Cape Town – The Guptas will oppose Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s court application in which he has asked the courts to legally protect him from having to intervene in the banking blacklisting of the family’s business interests.

Van Der Merwe Associates alerted Gordhan’s attorneys to their intention of opposing the matter unless he withdraws the application and tenders costs by Wednesday afternoon.

READ: Guptas list why Gordhan's application is fundamentally flawed

However, Gordhan declined the offer, Oakybay Investments said in a statement on Wednesday.

On Friday, Gordhan submitted an affidavit to the Pretoria high court that revealed the Gupta family is under investigation by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) for more than 70 banking transactions involving almost R7bn.

READ: Gordhan will stand his ground

The Guptas on Tuesday moved to dispel this. "None of the transactions related to Oakbay or the family, which are over a five-year period, were flagged to the FIC as suspicious," the Guptas' lawyers said.

In a letter, Van Der Merwe Associates told Gordhan that his affidavit implicated the Guptas in inappropriate and unlawful conduct.

The affidavit also “insinuated” that the Guptas would “expose the fiscus not only to loss of tax revenue but also put the burden of mining rehabilitation on the fiscus”, Oakbay explained.

READ: Gordhan lodges explosive affidavit exposing R6.8bn of dodgy Gupta transactions

Van Der Merwe Associates told Gordhan this was “uncalled for, malicious and nothing but vexatious”.
 
Van Der Merwe Associates has advised the Guptas to “obtain all the necessary information from the relevant role players and ask for (a) punitive costs order against dismissal of the application”.
 
The lawyers told Gordhan that he had made “defamatory and untrue remarks towards members of the Gupta family by insinuating that they have been involved in inappropriate conduct” and that “their rights remain strictly reserved”, Oakbay said.

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