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.