IDC gives Guptas until midnight to pay back R293 million

The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has told Oakbay Resources that it has until the e\close of business on Thursday to pay back R293-million.

ENCA reports that Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said that if the Gupta-owned company did not pay up, the IDC would take action to recover the amount.

According to a TimesLIVE report earlier this year, alarms should have sounded when the Guptas approached the IDC for a R250-million loan to buy the unprofitable Shiva uranium mine but the purchase costs ballooned to R452-million because of interest and the repayment terms.

The loan was renegotiated into a quasi equity loan, for which the IDC received 3.56% of the shares in Shiva.

However the agreement was cancelled because of allegations of price manipulation –Bloomberg reported that the Guptas had lent money to a company in Singapore with which they were associated to buy shares in Oakbay.

Now the IDC wants to be repaid the shares’ value.