Ronice Ragavan, the CEO of the Gupta's Oakbay Resources, has been accused of diverting VAT refund funds claimed by Optimum Coal Mine to a suspicious, unrelated company. According to Times Select, business rescue practitioners for Optimum, which the Guptas also owned, claim that R89-million in VAT refund claims were diverted to In House Wages, a small company unrelated to the mine.
The practitioners reportedly claim that they were told that the funds were diverted "on the specific instructions" of Ragavan.
In House Wages' only director is reportedly Ashbir Maharaj, who was appointed two days after the Gupta businesses were placed under business rescue in February.
It has also been alleged that the R89-million was not the first, and that in total, it is estimated that R200-million was diverted to this small company in this way. The rescue practitioners reported obtained a court order in April to freeze In House Wages' bank account to stop the funds from being transferred elsewhere.
Maharaj reportedly denied being under Ragavan's instructions, and Ragavan did not immediately respond to the allegations.
Last month, TimesLive revealed that the payments were made to In House. This was reportedly the second time that a VAT refund was paid to a third party for the Guptas, in contravention of Sars policy.
The Daily Maverick reported in March that suspended Sars boss Tom Moyane was central to the approval of the Gupta VAT refund payouts, which ultimately totalled R70-million. This is one of the allegations against Moyane which saw President Cyril Ramaphosa suspend him this year.
But Sars and Moyane vehemently denied this. According to Fin24, Sars said in a statement that Moyane did not approve the payments, and laid the blame at the door of the legal department's head, Refiloe Mokoena, "which comprises experienced and well-respected tax experts".