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BusinessLive reports that Parliament’s mineral resources portfolio committee heard on Wednesday that the departure of the Bank of Baroda from SA had made it impossible for the Optimum coal mine — a subsidiary of the Gupta-owned Tegeta Exploration & Resources — to do business.
Seven companies in the group have been placed under business rescue — including Tegeta, Optimum and Shiva Uranium. Optimum has been hit by a strike by workers concerned about the payment of their salaries and the status of the mine. Modilati Malapane, acting chief director at the Department of Mineral Resources, told the committee in a briefing that Optimum had indicated that "since the Bank of Baroda left the country it is impossible for them to do business. The company indicated they would not be in a position to pay employees’ salaries due to the bank issue." The lack of bank facilities had also meant Optimum could not be paid for coal supplied to Eskom. The Bank of Baroda was the last bank willing to do business with the Guptas. Malapane also told MPs that Optimum had been issued with a compliance notice for failing to adhere to the terms and conditions of its mining right — in particular to the commitments made in relation to the approved social and labour plans.
- Read this report by Linda Ensor in full at BusinessLive
- See too, Optimum Coal management fails to appear before Parly committee, at EWN
- And also, Bank of Baroda helped Guptas transport money out of SA, at Business Report
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page