Hume Park in Port Elizabeth was one of a number of Transnet assets that Gupta-linked investment firm Trillian was eyeing in a bid to take over the state-owned entity’s vast property empire.

The popular recreational club that was initially started for railway workers was home to a caravan park, pub and sports fields before it was shut down in December 2016 — just six months after Transnet proposed the Trillian deal to then public enterprises minister Lynne Brown...