Guptas no longer “delighted” b

Guptas no longer “delighted” by Gordhan’s R6.8 billion expose, want case pulled

At first the Guptas were elated that Pravin Gordhan had exposed an alleged R6.8 billion worth of ‘dodgy’ payments from their companies, but just days later they want the court application pulled…?

Guptas no longer “delighted” b

That’s quite the 180, especially considering that the Guptas had gone on record saying Gordhan’s court application and the information released would finally give them the opportunity to prove their innocence and put the matter to rest.

Well, the family has once again instructed their lawyers to try and quash yet another controversial story, allegedly connecting them to some shady deals. Last week Gordhan filed papers in court that exposed 72 ‘dodgy’ payments from Gupta-owned companies, totalling R6.8 billion.

BusinessTech reports that the Guptas’ lawyers, Van der Merwe and Associates, wrote to Gordhan’s legal team in an attempt to get the finance minister to withdraw his court application and all documents outlining the payments made by Gupta companies.

They gave Gordhan until the end of Wednesday to comply with their demands, but Gordhan refused, insisting that the case continues. The Guptas must not have been reading the news lately, because if they did they would know Gordhan is not to be f*cked with.

In the letter to Gordhan, the family’s lawyers said the minister implicated the Guptas in dodgy activities – no shit – and that he would be exposing “the fiscus not only to loss of tax revenue but also put the burden of mining rehabilitation on the fiscus.”

Interestingly the family labelled the ministers move as “uncalled for, malicious and nothing but vexatious,” saying that he was wasting taxpayer money… wait, what?

 “In order that we do not expose the fiscus unnecessarily to costs we propose that the application be withdrawn,” the family’s lawyers said.

The family has indicated that, should Gordhan not drop all charges, they would happily make their own case in court, which is odd, because that’s what they wanted initially before asking for all charges to be withdrawn.

“The matter must proceed and we will gladly do the necessary in order to restore the misrepresentation created by the papers,” the Gupta legal team said.