National
Guptas’ suspicious banking transactions must be investigated by the Hawks, says DA─── 05:36 Mon, 17 Oct 2016
Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance on Sunday called on the Hawks to investigate the 72 suspicious banking transactions by the politically connected Gupta family totalling almost R7 billion to be investigated by the Hawks.
“The Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, has pushed the ‘red button’ and escalated the dirty war between himself and President Jacob Zuma’s most important clients, the Guptas,” DA spokesperson, David Maynier, said.
Gordhan’s court application for declaratory relief, relating to his ministerial powers in respect of the closure of the Guptas’ private bank accounts, was a major escalation because the court papers reveal several aspects, he said.
These included that South African Reserve Bank Governor, Lesetja Kganyago, had serious reservations about the inter-ministerial task team appointed by Zuma on the closure of the bank accounts, which he warned could be viewed as political interference and could pose a risk to financial stability.
Also, the large number of suspicious transactions, included a transaction involving VR Laser Asia and a transaction relating to the purchase of the Optimum Coal Mine.
“The court papers reveal, most importantly, 72 suspicious transactions in the amount of R6.83 billion, all of which relate to the Guptas or companies controlled by the Guptas,” Maynier said.
“Of the 72 suspicious transactions, interestingly, 26 suspicious transactions in the amount of R5.99 billion take place after Mr Nazeem Howa, the chief executive officer of Oakbay Investments (Pty) Ltd, lodged his first complaint claiming ‘corporate bullying’ and ‘anti-competitive practices’, with the minister on 8 April 2016.
“Whatever the case, we have to be sure that the suspicious transactions are being investigated by the South African Police Service,” he said.
Maynier said he had already laid charges of corruption against Atul Gupta, Ajay Gupta, and Zuma’s son Duduzane Zuma in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act at a police station in Cape Town (CAS 1200/3/2016) on March 17.
He would now request them to extend their investigation into possible exchange-control violations relating to a suspicious transaction involving VR Laser Asia, as well as the other suspicious transactions, including the R1.3 billion transaction involving the purchase of the Optimum Coal Mine, Maynier said.
ANA
