Details emerge of how the Guptas manipulated Oakbay's listing price
Singapore firm Unlimited Electronics & Computers was given a $1m loan to buy Oakbay shares
The Gupta family inflated the share price of a Oakbay Resources & Energy on its JSE debut by lending money to a Singapore firm to be used to trade the equities. That came ahead of plans to raise funds for a uranium mine. The Guptas, embroiled in a corruption scandal linked to President Jacob Zuma, agreed to lend $1m from bank accounts in Dubai to Unlimited Electronics & Computers (UEC) in Singapore in November 2014. That same month, UEC transferred $928,146 to the Guptas’ Oakbay Resources & Energy and the two companies had a contract entitling UEC to 18.5-million Oakbay shares at R10 per share, according to a November 20 communication that was one of a trove of e-mails seen by Bloomberg. The 2.31% stake in Oakbay was worth about R185m. Oakbay employee Ronica Ragavan told UEC director Kamran Gani by e-mail on November 27 2014, a day before Oakbay listed, to instruct his brokers to sell 10,000 shares for R10.05 each and another 10,000 shares for R10.08 before December 5. The 20,000 sh...
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