Pravin Gordhan heading to court
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is heading to the court this morning in an effort to validate his choice to stay out of the Gupta family's battle with South African banks.
The matter has been set down in the Pretoria High Court for the next few days when the embattled minister will seek to get a declaratory order saying he can't intervene with the banks' decision to close all Oakbay Investments accounts.
Gordhan approached the courts last year after the Gupta family said he should step in and force the banks to reopen their business accounts.
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Without giving much detail on why, Absa, Nedbank, FNB and Standard Bank closed all the Gupta-owned business accounts last year - simply saying the decision was made based on possible risk to their business and reputation.
Gordhan has been accused of paying political games with Sahara Computers, in their heads of argument filed yesterday, questioning the State Attorney's authority to act on Gordhan's behalf.
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Sahara wants the minister to pay the costs for this personally.
President Jacob Zuma has also joined court proceedings as an interested party in regards to Standard Bank's extended declaratory order against the president and all members of the cabinet.