Judgment reserved in the Gupta companies’ urgent Baroda bank application
Judgment has been reserved in the urgent court application by more than a dozen Gupta-linked companies to prevent the Bank of Baroda from closing its South African operations. Judge Ntendeya Mavundla said in the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday that he initially considered dismissing the application based on the prima facie evidence. "The matter raises‚ in my view‚ the fundamental question: Must the courts oblige banks to stay in the country against their will or business to keep its doors open?" The application started out on behalf of 20 Gupta-linked companies‚ but was reduced to 19. On Thursday it was further reduced to 13‚ because six of applicants are in business rescue. Nedbank informed Baroda at the end of January that it would cut ties with the bank within three months. This means that from April 1 Baroda will not have banking facilities with Nedbank‚ on which it relies to provide banking services to its own clients until it leaves SA.
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