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Gupta-owned Oakbay Investments has hit back after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s lawyer, Jeremy Gauntlett, called on the company to withdraw from the court hearing.
Oakbay and the finance minister are battling it out in court over Gordhan’s October 2016 court application, which seeks protection from intervening in the banks’ decision to close the bank accounts of Oakbay.
Read: New Gupta lawyers devise fresh attack on Gordhan, Zuma joins in
“Oakbay Investments has suffered unjustified and severe reputational damage as a result of the minister’s application,” Oakbay’s acting chief executive Ronica Ragavan said today.
The infamous Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) certificate listing 72 suspicious transactions, as well as Deputy Finance Minister Mscebisi Jonas’ claims about being offered Gordhan’s job by the Guptas, were struck off by the court yesterday.
Ragavan said this showed the true motives behind Gordhan’s application.
“His inclusion of the FIC report and Deputy Minister Jonas’ affidavit, which were both struck off yesterday, clearly demonstrate the motives that sit behind the application,” Ragavan said.
Read: Gordhan vs Guptas: Both sides have ‘irrelevant’ smears struck from affidavits
“We will continue to argue in court for this unnecessary application, which is a waste of taxpayers’ money and the court’s time, to be dismissed. As the architect of the application and the campaign to smear Oakbay, if anyone is to withdraw it should be the minister.”
