Two former associates of the controversial Gupta family have been granted bail while another was rushed to hospital after they were charged for allegedly swindling more than R100 million fraud related to rehabilitation of Optimum Coal Mine.
Former Tegeta Exploration and Resources Director Ronica Ragavan, former trustee of Optimum Coal Mine, Pushpaveni Govender, and former deputy director-general in the Department of Mineral Resources, Joel Raphela, appeared before the Randburg Magistrates’ Court this morning.
They stand accused of fraud, forgery, uttering, perjury and money laundering of R107.5 million for mine rehabilitation funds for the Optimum Coal Mine Trust account and Koornfontein Mine Trust account in 2016.
The two former company trustees were granted bail of R20 000 each, while Raphela was urgently rushed to hospital during court proceedings for medical attention.
Investigating Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said that according to evidence at their disposal, R7.5 million was transferred from the Optimum Mine Rehabilitation Trust account at Standard Bank to Optimum Coal Mine on 23 May 2016.
Seboka said the amount was used as part of the payment of R26.4 million to Klipbank Mining, which was not in accordance with the requirements of the trust, regardless of what the funds were used for.
“Ragavan and Govender obtained R100 million from the Koorfontein Trust Account in June 2016, to act as surety for a loan in favour of Tegeta for the purchase of Optimum Coal Mine,” said Seboka.
“The holder of the right or permit must ensure that the financial provision is equal to the amount of the actual costs of implementing the plans to rehabilitate the mine and environment for a period of 10 years after the closure of the mine.”
The Optimum Coal Mine was placed under business rescue in 2018 and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been seeking a preservation order on the Gupta owned company for more than R2 billion.
About 4,500 workers who were retrenched have been left in limbo and were pinning their hopes on the business rescue practitioners re-opening the mine, which the NPA intended to oppose.
Meanwhile, Advocate Andrea Johnson assured the nation that the Investigating Directorate (ID), working with the support of the Hawks, was committed to ensuring that those responsible for corruption and facilitating state capture were held criminally accountable and that it will work steadfastly to claw back stolen funds back to the fiscus.
“The country can expect more of these priority state capture cases to be enrolled soon,” said Johnson.
The matter will return to court on 22 June 2022 for adding of further accused.
