BusinessLive reports that the Pretoria High Court has dismissed a bid by Swiss shell company Charles King to halt the sale of Optimum Coal mine.  

The application to interdict the sale of Optimum was dismissed with costs by the court on Friday and represents the 44th unsuccessful legal bid to scupper the work of the business rescue practitioners who took over the running of the mine, and other Gupta-owned assets, in February 2018.  Optimum Coal mine has been at the centre of state capture allegations.  Eskom officials forced the sale of Optimum by Glencore and then helped the politically connected Gupta family to buy it.  Charles King’s legal bid now joins the long list of unsuccessful ones against the practitioners, much of it from Gupta affiliates.  The company, registered in Switzerland and a subsidiary of an Abu Dhabi company, asked the court to urgently interdict the sale of the Optimum Coal mine, Optimum Terminal and Koornfontein Mines while a dispute between itself and the business rescue practitioners underwent arbitration.  The judge ruled that the matter was not urgent and struck the matter off the roll.

• Read this report by Lisa Steyn in full at BusinessLive

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