While the lawfulness of some of the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) extradition applications to foreign states remain in question, the requests for the Gupta brothers, accused of conniving with political elites to loot state funds, were lawful.
Justice and constitutional development minister Mmamoloko Kubayi briefed the portfolio committee on justice and constitutional development on Tuesday.
Extradition applications have been a point of concern after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled last year that only the minister of justice had the power to make applications to the US for extradition.
That put pending applications in jeopardy and the NPA initiated an appeal at the Constitutional Court, as the judgment opened the door for 89 accused challenged extradition applications.
The NPA had been working with the department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco) on most of the applications and not the justice ministry.
Kubayi told MPs on Tuesday that some of the high-profile applications passed the legal test.
“There are a number that are not affected including the [Shepherd] Bushiri matter, the AKA murder case matter in Swaziland is not affected and the Gupta matter is not affected,” Kubayi said.
For years the NPA has tried to extradite the Gupta brothers, Atul and Rajesh, from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to face money-laundering charges related to state capture cases.
The NPA wants the top court to reverse the SCA order to avoid losing cases.
In an affidavit at the Constitutional Court filed last year, NPA Johannesburg head Andrew Chauke argued that the SCA’s ruling “deprived the NPA of its prosecutorial independence and opened the door to political interference in the justice system”.
“The consequence of the SCA’s judgment, if not appealed, will thus [be] devastating to say the least: the blow to the public’s confidence in the legal system and legal system [itself] if, at a single stroke, 89 of the country’s most serious fugitives from justice are allowed to escape, can only be imagined.”
The NPA wanted to continue working with Dirco in extradition applications.
The Constitutional Court has not yet granted the NPA leave to appeal.
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