Gert van Der Merwe, the lawyer for Oakbay Investments (http://OakbayInvestments.co.za), has given a detailed interview on today’s affidavit in response to the application by Pravin Gordhan, the Finance Minister.

The full interview can be viewed here: http://apo.af/6PwmYr.

Van Der Merwe has described the Minister’s application as “superfluous” and “riddled with factual and legal errors”. This application is an abuse of Court and an effort to involve the independent judiciary to settle political scores. On this basis, the Court should dismiss the application.

Regarding the 72 “suspicious transaction reports”, Van Der Merwe said: “The list was never a clear list that would enable Oakbay to identify the transactions. So we went out of our way and we even employed an international audit firm to assist.”

Nardello & Co, an international investigative firm, was engaged to review the 72 transactions. Nardello’s report concludes that there is not enough information about the 72 suspicious transaction reports to identify them in the books and records of Oakbay Group or the personal bank accounts of members of the Gupta family.

Van Der Merwe went on to say that the FIC certificate “does not carry any substance as far as the relief sought is concerned” and it was used to create the false impression of criminality.

Oakbay has made every attempt and pursued every avenue open to it, to gain the information it needs to prove that each and every transaction is legitimate and above board.