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Cape Town - The flood of so-called suspicious transactions, amounting to almost R7bn, are misplaced, according to Oakbay Group’s acting CEO, Ronica Ravagan.
The now infamous list of 72 “suspicious transactions”, worth R6.8bn, was highlighted in a certificate issued by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC).
"There is nothing suspicious or untoward about these [72] transactions - they were simply flagged in the ordinary course under the FIC Act, together with millions of other innocent transactions, and any attempt to draw conclusions of the impropriety from the certificate is misplaced," said Ravagan as the first respondent in the company’s lengthy answering affidavit.
READ: Oakbay: 6 reasons the FIC certificate is unlawful
The FIC certificate was included in an explosive court application by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. He turned to the court for a declaratory order on whether he has the power to intervene with the banks who refused to do business with the Guptas.
The FIC, by law, is privy to details on all bank transactions that raise concern over the purpose thereof, according to section 29 of the FIC Act. Suspicious and unusual transactions, as defined by the act, include transfers that may relate to the financing of terrorism, the evasion or attempted evasion of tax payments, or transfers that have "no apparent business or lawful purpose".
The 72 transactions, with amounts varying from R5 000 to R1.3bn, was concluded by the Guptas and various of their companies over the past few years.
Entities in the report include Shiva Uranium and Oakbay Investments. The two companies were involved in alleged "suspicious" transactions worth R968m and R781m. It also showed a R1.3bn transaction involving the bank account of the mining rehabilitation fund for Optimum - the coal mine that was purchased by the Guptas and President Jacob Zuma's son, Duduzane Zuma.
INFOGRAPHIC: Timeline of the Guptas' bank woes
"The Minister’s reliance on the list of 72 purported “suspicious transaction reports” is misplaced and the minister’s application is supported by a flawed analysis and a faulty factual record," said Ravagan.
She explained that Nardello & Co, an international investigative firm, was engaged to review the 72 transactions.
Oakbay said in a statement Nardello’s report concludes that there is not enough information about the 72 transactions to identify them in the books and records of Oakbay Group or the personal bank accounts of members of the Gupta family.
Ravagan said of the 72 transactions, 20 transactions were entirely unidentifiable as they were labelled "muliple transactions". She said a further 37 transactions could not be located in the bank accounts of the corporate entities and individuals concerned due to the missing information and/or errors.
READ: 72 transactions 'don't warrant investigation' - Oakbay CEO
"The audit team was only able to identify 15 transactions, with a combined value of R127 230 298."
She noted that in respect of the transactions which were identifiable, the auditors demonstrate that there is nothing unlawful or "suspicious" about them.
Ravagan said the FIC’s release of the certificate to Gordhan was unlawful in itself and should be disregarded in its entirety.
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