NINETEEN COMPANIES
Gupta companies in desperate bid to keep Bank of Baroda in South Africa
The Gupta entities insist the closure of the Baroda branch in SA is in contempt of court
Nineteen Gupta-linked companies have approached the High Court in Pretoria in a bid to stop the Bank of Baroda from closing its South African operations, and have accused the bank of acting in bad faith. The bank announced in February that it planned to close its branch in the country following an instruction from its headquarters in India. In answering papers to the entities, Baroda’s acting CEO of SA operations, Manoj Kumar Jha, explained that the decision to shut up shop in the country followed a decision by Nedbank to terminate its relationship with Baroda. This would mean that it would be impossible for Baroda to provide transactional banking facilities to any of its customers. But the Gupta entities are insisting that the closure of the Baroda branch in SA is in contempt of court following an interim order handed down by high court Judge Tati Makgoka in October 2017, stopping Baroda from “deactivating and/or closing” the accounts or from terminating the banker-customer relatio...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.