The Gupta family has slammed Eskom and the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) bid to sue them for R3.8bn, which the power utility says was illegally diverted to help them buy Optimum Coal, as a “national embarrassment waiting to happen”.

“The allegations pleaded in this summons are legally incomprehensible and [it] is undoubtedly one of the worst drafted legal documents that I have ever seen,” Gupta family lawyer Rudi Krause told Business Day.