The Guptas, along with the company they control, Oakbay Investments, on Tuesday hit out at Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, describing his application to the High Court as "undiluted nonsense" and nothing more than "political games".
In a statement from Ajay Gupta and Oakbay, the family welcomed the application by the minister and looked forward to clearing it’s name in court.
The family has been hit hard by Gordhan’s application on Friday, and revelations of their unexplained R6.8bn transactions.
This appeared to have led to the resignation of Oakbay CE Nazeem Howa on Monday who, however, cited health reasons for quitting.
Gordhan approached the court on Friday to ask for a declaration order confirming that he cannot interfere in the relationship between the family and the four major banks, who closed their accounts earlier this year.
The annexures to the application revealed some R6.8bn in suspicious transactions from the Guptas’ accounts.
"Whilst we thoroughly welcome this application, it is undiluted nonsense and appears to be little more than the usual political games.
"To reiterate, we are delighted to have received this application. The truth always comes out in the end and we look forward to clearing our name in court," the statement said.
The statement did not indicate whether the family would oppose the application in court. It simply says that "at last, the Gupta Family and Oakbay can begin to formally clear their names".
The application was still being "considered" by the family’s lawyers and "will be dealt with in detail, each and every detail".
The statement said the application detail was "fundamentally flawed". Of the 72 transactions flagged the statement said six of them totalling some R4bn referred to the Optimum Mine "before it was under Oakbay control and so were not transacted by Oakbay or the family".
It claims that 24 transactions totalling R335m are "perfectly legitimate" and in the "normal course of business and not suspicious in any way".
The statement deals with a number of other transactions, in which the family denies any wrongdoing.
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