The Daily Maverick caught up with Mail & Guardian editor in chief, Chris Roper to discuss the R500 million defamation suit brought against the paper by the notorious Gupta family. They’re suing the Sunday Times for the same amount – putting their claim at a cool R1 billion.

Roper said:

The amount of damages claimed seems, to put it mildly, outrageous. One can’t help wondering whether this is more about intimidation than a desire for justice, but we’ll leave that for a court to decide. We will of course be vigorously defending the case.

Sunday Times editor Phylicia Oppelt sounded a warning to the Guptas, indicating that their legal wrangling may have achieved the opposite of their intentions.

We believe that the ludicrous sum of money claimed is a misguided effort to intimidate us into desisting from reporting on the family’s business dealings. Not only are we sure of our facts, but we believe a trial will shed some much-needed light on the way the Gupta family does business in South Africa. The family has numerous interests in lucrative industries and is notoriously politically well connected. We look forward to their business practices being scrutinised in court.

Read the whole report, HERE.

[Source : Daily Maverick]