Business-rescue team wants probe into Gupta profits at Optimum coal
Practitioners’ plan for selling the Gupta-owned mine casts suspicion on how R3bn was spent
The business-rescue practitioners at the Optimum mine want an investigation into the use of a R3bn profit the Gupta-owned mine made in 2017. This comes as they push Eskom hard for improved prices to ensure they can sell a viable coal business with local and international markets. In their plan released last week, the four practitioners detailed their desire to trade the colliery out of trouble and sell it as a viable business. The document contained details of how they intercepted “an illegal transfer” of an R80m value-added tax refund from the South African Revenue Service to a third party. The R80m, combined with R22m realised from the sale of stockpiles, gave the practitioners enough money to pay wages, secure a railway siding, spend R20m on refurbishing yellow machinery and pay for diesel and electricity. There is an estimated R1.6bn penalty claim from Eskom. The colliery is worth an estimated R2.4bn. The Optimum colliery was bought by Tegeta Exploration and Resources from Glenc...
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