Outa wins court bid to freeze Gupta mine rehab funds at Bank of Baroda

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) Tuesday won an urgent interim interdict in the Pretoria High Court against the Bank of Baroda, freezing some R1.75 billion in the Gupta-owned Optimum and Koornfontein coal mines’ rehabilitation trust fund accounts.

“This is another sweet victory for South Africa, with the prevention of Gupta mining trust accounts worth at least R1.75 billion from leaving our shores or being plundered by the Guptas,” Outa’s chief operating officer Ben Theron said in a statement.

“But the fight is far from over as we want to ensure that the Gupta family and those responsible for state capture are held accountable.”

Mine rehabilitation funds cannot be used for purposes other than managing the environmental damage caused by mining activities, according to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act and the National Environmental Management Act.

Outa’s interim order directs the Bank of Baroda to continue to hold the trust funds of the Optimum Mine Rehabilitation Trust and the Koornfontein Mine Rehabilitation Trust in interest-bearing accounts in the trusts’ names.

The trustees or those with signing powers are interdicted “from directly or indirectly dealing in any way with, disposing of or removing from the Republic of South Africa any of the funds or assets of the Trust including but not limited to the Trust’s funds held in any account of or at the Bank of Baroda”.

The matter relating to what will happen to the funds was postponed to 7 December.

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