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Guptagate: Will big banks reveal more?

Three of the big four banks have aligned themselves with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his court application against the Gupta family.

It is, however, still unclear if any of them will take the opportunity Gordhan has created for them to reveal yet more of the politically connected family’s dirty laundry.

Absa on Friday filed a notice in the Pretoria High Court supporting the declaratory order Gordhan had asked for: that he has no power to intervene in the banks’ decision to cut ties with the family and its businesses.

“We are reserving the right to file an explanatory affidavit as we are still taking legal advice,” Absa spokesperson Phumza Macanda said in a statement.

“If we determine the arguments put forth by the minister are sufficient we will not file an explanatory affidavit.”

Both FirstRand and Standard Bank have stated that they likewise support Gordhan’s application, but not whether they would participate in the case.

Nedbank told City Press that they would not comment on the matter.

Gordhan’s application itself, made last Friday, already allowed for a summary of suspicious transaction reports involving Gupta companies to be made public.

By itself, this revelation does not seriously compromise the controversial family as these reports do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing.

The application, however, allows the banks to reveal the contents of the reports if they choose to do so.

Gordhan’s application last week aired the fact that the Financial Intelligence Centre had received no fewer than 72 suspicious transaction reports related to the Guptas and their companies.

Many of the 72 reports relate to multiple transactions on a single day, meaning that the total incidents come to more than 72.

The much-publicised figure of R6.8 billion, the total value of the suspicious transactions, is also an understatement. The values attached to the multiple-in-one-day reports were not revealed and are not part of this total.

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