The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has refused to provide the Gupta-owned Oakbay companies with access to the 72 records of suspicious transactions reported to it, which are believed to have prompted the closure of Oakbay’s accounts by all four major banks in the first six months of this year. In an affidavit lodged in the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday, FIC director Murray Michell states that Oakbay is not entitled to the records, firstly because the law prohibits it and secondly because Oakbay has not established a legal basis to obtain the records. The FIC affidavit is in response to a court application launched by Oakbay earlier in December to compel the release of the records. However, as this case is related to the application by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for a declaratory order that the finance minister is not entitled to intervene in the business of banks with their clients, the two cases will now be heard together. This follows a directive from Deputy Judge ...
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