The net is closing on the Gupta family with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) calling on the world’s biggest police organisation, Interpol, to arrest two brothers, their wives and four business associates.
Three Gupta brothers — Ajay, Atul and Rajesh — are friends of former president Jacob Zuma and business associates of his son Duduzane. The family scored from tenders with the government and state-owned utilities, making billions of rand leveraging their political connections. They fled SA in 2018.
Since leaving after Zuma’s resignation, the Gupta family has operated mainly from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). They have travelled to India for various events including a double-bill family wedding in the Himalayas in 2019.
On Thursday, advocate Hermione Cronje said her corruption-busting unit of the NPA, the Investigative Directorate (ID), would approach Interpol to execute arrest warrants for two Gupta couples and four associates compelling them to return to SA to face criminal charges.
These warrants are for the arrest of Atul Gupta and his wife Chetali, Rajesh Gupta and his wife Arti, and four business directors Ankit Jain, Ravindra Nath, Ramesh Bhat and Jagdish Parekh. The group has ties to India and the UAE.
Interpol has 194 member countries, including SA, India and the UAE. Interpol’s system of colour-coded notices allows police to call for international help.
Interpol notices are only issued once specific legal criteria are satisfied. A red notice from Interpol allows for the “location and arrest of wanted people” facing prosecution or sentencing.
A blue notice allows for collecting “additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a crime”. According to Interpol, only some notices are publicised. Member countries can ask for help using a “diffusion” as an alternative to a notice.
On Wednesday morning, SA police arrested four suspects. Iqbal Sharma — a former Transnet board member and Gupta business partner — and former Free State agriculture and rural development officials Peter Thabethe, Limakatso Moorosi and Seipati Dhlamini appeared in court the following day.
The Free State magistrate’s court released Moorosi and Dhlamini on bail of R10,000 on Thursday. Sharma and Thabethe remain in custody until their next court appearance on Monday June 7 2021.
With two suspects out on bail, two in custody and eight more at large overseas, the case’s progress depends on co-ordinated international police action.
When the ID launched in early 2019, it made prosecutions in the Vrede dairy project case a priority. The current case is the unit’s flagship state capture case.
By late 2019, it had acquired various bank statements, including those from the UAE about the Guptas’ involvement in the project.
“We have completed the forensic investigation that explains almost to the cent where the money went and where the money ended up,” said Cronje in December 2019.
Cronje’s unit is pursuing the Guptas in a criminal case about a grossly inflated contract for a report the Free State government bought from the company Nulane, owned by Gupta ally Sharma.
The Free State government deviated from proper procurement processes to award Nulane the contract. The parties entered the irregular agreement in late 2011. It was geared at determining the feasibility of establishing an “empowerment” project for black farmers in rural Free State.
In late 2011, the Free State government agreed to pay Nulane R24m in tranches for a feasibility study on a dairy venture set to form part of the province’s Mohuma Mobung strategy. Nulane outsourced the work to Deloitte.
The Free State government paid Nulane more than R24m in tranches between November 2011 and February 2012, all for a report Nulane was not uniquely qualified to produce. Instead of producing the work itself, Nulane subcontracted Deloitte at a fraction of the fee it charged the province.
Nulane invoiced the Free State government for more than R24m, paid Deloitte R1.5m for its report, and pocketed the difference. These funds held by Sharma’s “investment” company reached companies controlled by members of the Gupta family or their associates through a series of payments — notably those of Islandsite, controlled by Atul Gupta.
Sharma’s brother-in-law, Dinesh Patel, negotiated the work with Deloitte on Nulane’s behalf. The NPA said Patel, who is an accused, was absent from court on Thursday due to health problems.
“The only change made to the Deloitte report was to identify Paras dairy as a suitable implementing partner for the development of a milk-processing plant in Vrede,” said Sindisiwe Seboka, spokesperson for the NPA’s ID.
Funds paid into the Nedbank business account for Nulane were transferred into a network of other accounts the NPA has tied to the Guptas, their businesses and associates. An official told Business Day the fingerprints of Ajay Gupta were “all over” the Islandsite transactions.
Cronje is determined to ensure a “speedy trial” and plans to urgently finalise the indictment and material in the docket. The matter is set to be transferred from the magistrate’s court to the Free State high court on June 15.
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