The new argument is being pumped by a dissatisfied grouping in the battle for the soul of Africa’s biggest coal mine.
The NPA has defended its appointed curator for the formerly Gupta-owned Optimum Coal Mine in Hendrina, saying in reality there’s nothing is wrong in what Peter Van den Steen has done.
Sources with interest in the mine question his involvement in the process again as they say he is actually one of the men that facilitated the mine’s controversial sale to the Gupta family in the first place, but the NPA – despite fighting the sale doesn’t find anything wrong with him.
Early this year the NPA went to court and successfully won a case opposing the sale of the Optimum Coal Mine to British businessman Daniel McGowan, charging that McGowan is actually a Gupta associate and is seeking to buy the mine via the backdoor.
But interested parties in the matter say the same should be said of Van den Steen because he was a business rescue practitioner during 2015/16 when the Guptas acquired the mine and in fact “oversaw” its sale – and in the process got paid an amount of R90-million.
They say Van den Steen knew very well that the banks had closed all accounts belonging to businesses owned by the Guptas over state capture allegations but chose to sell the mine to them anyway.
“If everything about the purchase of the mine by the Guptas was corrupt, how come van den Steen is not associated with that corruption?” one of the interested parties, Thulani Mlotshwa, told 013NEWS.
“Yes, we agree that McGowan may be a Gupta business partner but how about van den Steen who gave the mine to the Guptas? Why is NPA not saying anything about him and instead they appoint him again to look after the mine? Don’t you see that there is something smelly here?” Mlotshwa said.
Early this year the NPA went to court and successfully opposed the purchase of Optimum by McGowan – and they are now filing new papers at the High Court to have the mine forfeited to the state because they say it was acquired with “dirty money”.
READ: NPA is playing politics – NUM
Optimum Coal Mine used to be owned by billionaire Ivan Glasenberg’s Glencore company and was forced into business rescue in 2015 after his relationship with then Eskom CEO Brian Molefe turned ugly and caused the business to run into financial difficulties.
They had been quarrelling over the increment of coal prices sold to Eskom by the Glencore and when Molefe refused to increase the prices by more than 300%, Glencore then boycotted selling and delivery of coal to Eskom – which led to load-shedding.
Eskom then slapped Glencore with fines running into hundreds of millions of rands for not adhering to contract agreements, which forced Glencore’s Optimum Coal Mine into financial problems and eventually Glasenberg chose to sell it.
Van den Steen was appointed by Glencore as business rescue practitioner to look after the mine pending its sale. It was finally sold to the Gupta’s Tegeta Resources in 2016. However Van den Steen is currently the curator of the Optimum assets, appointed this time by the NPA.
The NPA defended Van den Steen and said such accusations are new to them and should have come long time ago, not now that the matter is awaiting the forfeiture application.
“It is interesting that the allegations against Mr Van den Steen are for the first time made now, in August 2022, and were not made in 2016 when the mine was sold to the Guptas. Maybe the reason is that only now, years later, the evidence has come to light as to what was happening behind the scene,” the NPA said.
The interested parties said Van den Steen should have acted in “due dilligence” and not take money that was “acquired through dirt”; money of the Guptas when selling the mine.
Mlotshwa said the primary motivation for Van den Steen to sell the mine was “money”.
“The lawyers who should have advised Van den Steen and assisted with the customary due diligence, were happy to receive their fees and to our knowledge such has never been repaid to the state or sought in terms of preservation of forfeiture order, something is fishy here. If something was wrong with the purchase why is there nothing wrong with Van den Steen?”
The NPA said the business rescue practitioners were forced by the department of mineral resources and Eskom into the corner and cannot be blamed since they blew the lid off the issue when it was still fresh.
(edited by MLM)
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