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The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has joined in the legal battle between the business rescue practitioners and the Richards Bay Coal Terminal.
The battle centres on the use of Gupta-linked Coal Mine export allocation entitlement, which was taken away in January.
In its latest filing, the prosecuting authority said it intervened in the present application to protect the public interest against the interdictory relief sought by the applicants (the business rescue practitioners).
The submission read:
The prosecuting authority argues in its papers that the public interest tilts the balance of convenience firmly against the interim relief sought by the rescue practitioners because that interim relief is calculated to dissipate value from assets restrained as proceeds of crime while an application for forfeiture of those assets is pending.
“The judgment in the preservation application shows that the National Director of Public Prosecutions made out an unanswered prima facie case that the business of Optimum Coal Mine (OCM) was acquired with the proceeds of crimes committed by the Gupta family and their associates,” the submission read.
The NPA further argues at present, the export allocation of Optimum Coal Terminal (OCT) is being used, not for the benefit of OCM or its creditors, but rather to dissipate value from OCM at the expense of its creditors and in conflict with the restraint order.
In the appeal documents filed before the Supreme Court of Appeal against the NPA forfeiture application, which is yet to be heard, business rescue practitioners Kurt Robert Knoop, Johan Louis Klopper and Kgashane Christopher Monyela argue that the North Gauteng High Court that granted the preservation order failed to consider that the effect of the preservation order was to put an end to the business rescue and the rights of the employees.
READ: num takes battle to court over gupta mine export allocation
“The court a quo ignored the fact that the preservation was used by the NDPP for an ulterior purpose, namely to scupper the business rescue. On April 20 2019, the employees of OCM were retrenched, which resulted in the business of the mine becoming inoperative. Currently, independent contractors are operating mini-pit mining activities on the mine. These activities have enabled OCM’s business rescue practitioners to fund the maintenance and care of the mine,” the submission read.
In accordance with the adopted business rescue plan for OCM, Liberty Coal was just steps away from taking ownership of the assets of OCM as part of a debt-to-equity arrangement when the NPA launched its preservation application to have the assets and business of OCM preserved, pending forfeiture to the state.
