Bloem court to rule on Bank of Baroda, Gupta order
The High Court in Bloemfontein on Friday, is expected to hand down judgment in the preservation order dispute involving controversial businessman Atul Gupta and the Bank of Baroda.
The legal representatives for the businessman and the Gupta companies have argued that the High Court made a blunder in granting a preservation order to freeze the assets of the bank and the R10 million in his personal account.
The preservation order relates to alleged multi million rand corruption at the Estina dairy project in Vrede which was meant for black farmers.
The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) and the Hawks raided the Vrede farm and government offices in Bloemfontein in January, arresting eight people who have since appeared in Bloemfontein Regional Court for the alleged multi million corruptions.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) argued that various deposits were made to the Bank of Baroda from the Estina project and that the money left the account as soon as it was deposited.
The NPA also argued in court, that the bank failed to keep proper records of their banking.
In 2017 the Bank of Baroda received a fine of R11 million from the Reserve Bank.
The court also heard that the bank did not operate within the prescripts of the law.