South African finance minister says does not know if Guptas under investigation
By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday he did not know whether a wealthy family with ties to President Jacob Zuma was being investigated on allegations of illegally moving money out of the country. Gordhan rejected opposition claims that the state was dragging its feet over demands to investigate the finances of the Guptas, a family of India-born businessmen who have been criticised for wielding undue political influence over Zuma. South African law limits the amount of money businesses and individuals can ship out of the country. The opposition charges the Guptas have breached that limit, although it hasn't said how much they are supposed to have moved offshore and it is unclear what their limit might be. The main opposition group, the Democratic Alliance, says it has written to the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) requesting that it investigate the Guptas. When he was asked in parliament to confirm whether an investigation was under way, Gordhan said both he and the head of the FIC were prohibited from knowing whom the FIC was investigating. "Nobody is obfuscating," Gordhan said. "Let me give you the assurance that we will do ... what is required by the law without fear or favour." At a separate event, the mines minister, Mosebenzi Zwane, said he had spoken to banks to try to restore services to Oakbay Investments, the Gupta family holding company. Several companies, including the country's four main banks, last month ended their relationships with Oakbay Investments, amid allegations over the family's influence with Zuma. Zuma and the Guptas deny the claims. Zwane said he was trying to save the jobs at Oakbay. "We are the government of the people. We will not allow our people to just lose their jobs," he told reporters. The Guptas own businesses ranging from media and mining. Concern over political meddling in key economic departments has weighed on South African assets. The rand fell nearly 10 percent in December after Zuma replaced Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with a little-known politician, then recalled Gordhan, who served at the ministry in 2009-2014. Ratings agencies have warned of credit rating downgrades should Pretoria show a lack of commitment to reining in its budget deficit, seen at 3.2 percent of GDP this year. Gordhan told parliament the Treasury was on track to cut the shortfall to 2.4 percent of GDP by 2018/19. "We are managing our deficit well ... we do not have unsustainable debt," Gordhan told parliament. (Additional reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by James Macharia, Larry King)
