A company in Iqbal Surve’s Sekunjalo Group failed in an urgent court bid to prevent FNB from shutting its bank account on Wednesday, reports TimesLIVE.

The Eastern Cape High Court (Gqeberha) refused to grant an interim interdict to Talhado Fishing Enterprises, a subsidiary of Premier Fishing & Brands, saying the company had weak prospects in the long term of compelling the bank to keep its accounts open.

The Sekunjalo Group and subsidiary companies have been battling on a number of fronts to keep their bank accounts open after the findings of the commission of inquiry into the PIC.

The company argued in court that it needed a bank account to conduct its business and other banks were not willing to take it on as a client – leaving it ‘effectively unbanked’.

Acting Judge Mechelle Beneke said the court could not insist on a banking relationship against FNB’s will, and FNB could not be forced to keep on Talhado as a client simply because other banks would not take the company on.

‘There are no prospects of success on review. Accordingly, the application for an interim interdict must fail.’

The judgment came alongside a report that the PIC, which manages the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), has sold its entire stake in Premier Fishing.

BusinessLIVE reported that, according to Premier Fishing’s most recent annual report for its 2021 year, the GEPF held 19.7% of the company, but that a JSE regulatory news service announcement on Wednesday put the GEPF holding at zero.

Full TimesLIVE report