Guptas linked companies convicted over R107.5m mine rehab fraud

Nearly a decade after the Gupta family’s dramatic exit from South Africa, one of the most stubborn threads of the state capture era has finally been tied off in a Johannesburg courtroom.

The Gauteng Local Division of the High Court has convicted two company directors and three mining companies linked to the Guptas for fraud and money laundering, in a case involving R107.5 million in funds that were meant to rehabilitate land scarred by coal mining in Mpumalanga, according to the NPA.

Two Directors and Three Mining Companies Linked to the Guptas Convicted of Fraud and Money Laundering on Over R107.5 Million in Mine Rehabilitation Funds https://t.co/Z74khiBo2k

— NPASouthAfrica (@NPA_Prosecutes) October 9, 2026

A trust meant to protect the land, used to move money instead

The case centres on two rehabilitation trusts tied to the Optimum and Koornfontein coal mines, both of which the Gupta-linked company Tegeta Exploration and Resources bought from mining giant Glencore in a deal finalised on 08 April 2016. Buying the mines also meant taking control of the environmental rehabilitation funds attached to them, money that by law exists for one purpose only: fixing the damage mining leaves behind.

At the time of the sale, those two trusts were sitting on a combined fortune, with the Optimum fund holding around R1.44 billion and the Koornfontein fund holding R278.5 million.

The court heard that instead of staying ringfenced for rehabilitation, portions of that money were funnelled out to pay contractors and settle loans linked to the mines’ new owners. Ronica Ragavan, a director of Koornfontein Mines and Tegeta at the time, and Pushpaveni Ugeshni Govender, a director of Optimum Coal Mine who also became a trustee of both rehabilitation trusts from 26 April 2016, were found guilty on four counts between them. Optimum Coal Mine, Koornfontein Mines and Tegeta Exploration and Resources were convicted alongside them.

Judge Mudunwazi Makamu, who delivered the judgment, pointed to the role the accused played in how the offences were carried out.

How the money moved

According to the state’s case, R7.5 million was transferred out of the Optimum trust’s Standard Bank account on 23 May 2016, with Ragavan and Govender signing off on the request. That amount was folded into a larger R26.4 million payment to a contractor, Klipbank Mining, for underground mining work. The rehabilitation work tied to that payment was done, but the money taken from the trust was never paid back.

The Koornfontein side of the story ran deeper. In May 2016, R280 million belonging to that trust was shifted from First National Bank to the Bank of Baroda. Days earlier, on 05 May 2016, the Department of Mineral Resources had given Tegeta approval in principle to use the trust funds for concurrent rehabilitation, but only under three conditions. The version of that approval letter handed to Bank of Baroda left those conditions out.

By 06 June 2016, R170 million of the trust’s money had been locked into a fixed deposit and pledged as security for a R150 million loan to Koornfontein Mines, with written assurances to the bank that the loan would go towards rehabilitating the mine. A week later, on 13 June 2016, the bank paid out R100 million. Within two days, that money had moved through Koornfontein and Tegeta accounts and landed in a Tegeta account at the State Bank of India. From there, R67.8 million went to two mining contractors, Klipbank Mining and Coalcor Mining, while a further R30 million was sent back to Bank of Baroda and on to other companies, including Koornfontein Mines and Optimum Coal Mine itself.

None of that R100 million was ever used for rehabilitation, and no rehabilitation work was done at Koornfontein. Meanwhile, the R170 million still pledged to the bank sat at risk for a full year.

Not everyone was found guilty

Maleatlana Joel Raphela, the former Deputy Director-General of what was then the Department of Mineral Resources, was acquitted on all counts against him. All of the accused had initially pleaded not guilty.

The convictions enforce protections set out in the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 and its financial provision regulations, which require rehabilitation money to be set aside and kept available strictly for restoring mined land, and nothing else.

What happens next

The matter has been postponed to 01 December 2026 for sentencing, with the court extending bail for Ragavan and Govender until proceedings are finalised.

National Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv Andy Mothibi, welcomed the outcome.* ‘Rehabilitation trusts exist to ensure that surrounding communities are not left to carry the cost of the damage mining leaves behind. We commend the prosecution and investigation team for securing such a crucial conviction. We remain committed in the fight against corruption’,* he said.

The case forms part of a long-running thread of state capture-era prosecutions still working their way through South African courts, years after the initial allegations against the Gupta family and their associates first surfaced. For communities near the Optimum and Koornfontein mines, the ruling offers a rare moment of accountability in a saga that has, for years, felt stuck in legal limbo while the land itself waited on repair.

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Also read:

‘Fugitives of Justice’ – Guptas arrest in Dubai confirmed, what happens next?

**Picture: **Martin Rhodes / Gallo Images

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