India's Bank of Baroda (BOB) faces an R11 million fine for assisting the Gupta family in their acquisition of the Optimum coal mine from Glencore last year, an exclusive report in the possession of Moneyweb revealed on Monday.
The investigation was launched following former public protector Thuli Madonsela's State of Capture report.
In the report, auditors Deloitte (who was appointed by the SA Reserve Bank) found that the BOB disregarded provisions in the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) Act related to the bank's lack of verification of the source of funds of the deposits. Another report by the BOB's auditor, Nexia SAB&T, also revealed that other irregularities related to the Optimum transaction were being investigated.
In March 2017, the BOB announced that it would be closing Gupta family-related accounts by August 31, after five South African banks closed Gupta accounts last year. Gupta-linked VR Laser is taking the BOB to court this week in an urgent application to prevent it from closing all its bank accounts.