Outa lays charges against Guptas and Duduzane Zuma

Atul Gupta and Duduzane Zuma File picture: Supplied

Atul Gupta and Duduzane Zuma File picture: Supplied

Published Aug 3, 2017

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Johannesburg - The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has laid charges of treason, racketeering, extortion, fraud and forgery against President Jacob Zuma's son, Duduzane, and the three Gupta brothers. 

Outa laid the charges, which it claims are backed by affidavits, at the Randburg Police Station on Thursday. 

It said the charges were aimed at the four specifically because they were at the heart of the state capture scandals that have gripped the country. 

Over the past couple of months the alleged extent of the capture of various government officials and President Zuma have been revealed in thousands of emails leaked to the media. 

The emails also detail the shenanigans at various state owned enterprises, such as Eskom, where some officials have been accused of bending over backwards to accommodate the Gupta family's business interests. 

“The Gupta family and their associates, at all relevant times, acted severally and jointly in common purpose to perpetrate illegal activities,” said Ben Theron, Outa's chief operations officer. 

In the affidavits that accompanied the charges, Outa has named key figures who are associated to the Gupta's and Duduzane. They include Zuma's wife Bongi Ngema-Zuma, former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe and Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane. 

"The Guptas benefited from numerous high-value deals including getting the enormous R5.3 billion kickback from Transnet’s locomotive deal and a R66 million kickback from Neotel arising from a Transnet deal," said Theron. 

On Wednesday one of the Gupta brothers, Atul, told BBC Radio 4 that he knew nothing about the state capture allegations leveled against his family. 

He also questioned the authenticity of the Gupta leaked emails. 

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