PRETORIA, August 18 (ANA) – The North Gauteng High Court on Friday dismissed former finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s application for a declaratory order that he was not allowed to intervene on behalf of the Gupta business empire when commercial banks blacklisted it.
Judge Aubrey Ledwaba termed Gordhan’s application “clearly unnecessary” as there was no legal dispute on the point. It was therefore unfair to embroil the judiciary in the matter, he said.
The court made a costs order against Gordhan.
Gordhan brought the application last year while he was still finance minister and facing pressure from the politically-connected Gupta family to intercede on their behalf when South Africa’s four biggest banks served notice that it was closing all accounts linked to them.
Gordhan filed court documents that disclosed that the Financial Intelligence Centre had red-flagged transactions linked to the family’s businesses worth R6.8 billion.
– African News Agency (ANA)
