Guptas launch urgent court interdict
The High Court in Pretoria is hearing an urgent application by Gupta-owned companies against the Bank of Baroda.
The family is asking the court to force the Indian bank to keep open their accounts.
This after the Bank of Baroda notified the Gupta family that it will close all accounts by the end of September.
In his answering affidavit the bank's acting CEO in South Africa, Manoj Kumar Jha, says the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) reported 36 suspicious transactions involving the Gupta-owned companies.
The case was originally set to be heard in December, but the more than 20 companies argue that the matter is urgent.
Senior Counsel for the controversial family, Rafik Bhan, has described the bank's argument of reputational damage as "fallacious".
"If you tell me that you can't keep these accounts open until December because you suffer such great prejudice how do you explain the fact that you [the bank] has done nothing in the markets for the past 18 months?"
"Let's assume that there were these suspicious transactions, you have been dealing with these clients on that basis. You've been prepared to do so for an extended period and why will you suffer such great reputational damage for the months leading up to December? The bank was aware of this damage since December 2015," says Bhana.