Banks back Gordhan court application for clarity on his legal position on Guptas
Finance minister’s plea for a court to declare that he may not legally intervene in their relationship with the Guptas is supported by three top banks
Three of the country’s four major banks will not oppose Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s court case on their relationship with the Gupta family and their companies. Gordhan wants the High Court in Pretoria to declare that he is not legally empowered intervene in the relationship between the Guptas and the banks. The application followed a series of requests to intervene after the banks closed the Gupta bank accounts in April. Friday was the deadline for the banks — Absa, First National Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank of SA — to indicate whether they would oppose Gordhan’s application. Nedbank could not be reached for comment, but the other three — Standard Bank Absa and First National Bank — all said they supported Gordhan’s application. Absa — in a notice filed in court on Friday — said it would be filing an "explanatory affidavit" in the case. The affidavit could shed some light as to why it closed down the Gupta’s bank accounts with it. It could even, possibly, disclose more inf...
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