Court grounds Gupta plane, takes keys

The keys to possibly South Africa’s most infamous jet – call sign ZS-OAK, owned by the Gupta family – will be held by the SA Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), following an order of the High Court in Johannesburg.

According to SACAA director Poppy Khoza, the organisation had no vested interest in the matter but as the fifth respondent in the case, would comply with order to ground the aircraft.

The near half-a-billion-rand aircraft – a Bombardier Aerospace BD700-1A10 – was 80% financed by the Export Development Canada (EDC) credit agency and according to the SACAA ownership profile, was registered in SA in April 2015.

In court papers last week, EDC claimed the aircraft was leased to the Stoneriver MSN 9631 Aircraft Designated Activity Company in Dublin, Ireland, by Westdawn Investments – which fell under the Guptas’ former investment corporation, Oakbay.

However, it appeared Stoneriver missed a contractual quarterly payment in October. This set off alarm bells at EDC which, in turn, informed Stoneriver that if it did not make a payment, EDC would issue a default notice. Payment was duly made and EDC withdrew its intended default notice.

However, payments in November and December were again missed. It didn’t help that the Gupta family had requested that the Bombardier’s public flight tracking information be blocked from websites which display detailed information on where aircraft have been and are going.

This prompted EDC to take court action as it no longer knew where the plane was.

The whereabouts of the aircraft was last revealed by Corporate Jet Investor on March 5 to be in Dubai – a known haven of the Gupta family.

ZS-OAK has had a busy time, reportedly flying in recent months to St Petersburg in Russia, Dehradun in India, Dubai, Indira Gandhi airport in New Delhi, as well as Zurich and the EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg near Basel in Switzerland.

Judge Fayeeza Kathree-Setiloane yesterday ordered the plane be parked at Lanseria Airport and barred any member of the family or of their companies from using it.

Kathree-Setiloane also ordered the aircraft be deregistered by the SACAA if it was not handed over in 15 days, which would effectively prevent it leaving the ground from anywhere in the world, until such time it is reregistered by a competent authority.

Khoza noted that the arrangement between the financier and the operator was none of the aviation authority’s business. “We indicated at the time we would abide by the court’s decision,” Khoza said.

– news@citizen.co.za

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