Durban - EFF Leader Julius Malema said on Tuesday the Gupta issue was deliberately being made part of the public discourse to detract from the challenges facing President Cyril Ramaphosa.
At a media briefing the party held on Tuesday, Malema called the arrest of Atul and Rajesh Gupta “a sideshow to divert attention from the real crisis which is the Phala Phala farm saga where the president failed to report a crime that had taken place in his own backyard because he wanted to conceal it from the public”.
Foreign currency was stolen from Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in 2020.
News of the two Gupta brothers’ arrest broke on Monday night but they were arrested on Friday by the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) on Friday.
Malema said: “When South Africans refused to accept the story of intimidation of a DG (the Presidency claimed a letter and a bullet were sent to Presidency director-general Phindile Baleni’s home), then the Guptas arrived as a diversion. We are not interested in that, we are interested in the president being held accountable.”
Malema said he wanted to see the Guptas in jail.
“I want to hear that they are being prosecuted here. We were central in exposing the shenanigans of the Guptas,” he said. Political analyst Bheki Mngomezulu concurred with Malema that the arrest of the Guptas was a sideshow, saying there was no reason for people to be excited about their arrest, as if they would be in the country tomorrow. Their arrest was not an urgent matter compared to the president’s farm saga.
“Guptas’ arrest does not need much excitement and is no longer urgent since they were arrested after the Zondo Commission has concluded its work, so it was unlikely that their arrest would help much. Once they come here it will be them against the National Prosecuting Authority and you know these high-profile cases take long. What is urgent for people is whether the president would honour his party’s step aside policy,” said Mngomezulu.
Professor Sipho Seepe concurred with Malema and Mngomezulu, saying the country’s social and economic challenges would not be solved by the Guptas’ arrest.
Dubai police said on Tuesday the arrest of Atul and Rajesh Gupta, who are wanted in South Africa to face money laundering and other criminal charges, reflects the continuous efforts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to combat money laundering.
On Monday, the Justice and Correctional Services Department confirmed that it had been told by law enforcement authorities in the UAE that the brothers had been arrested.
“Discussions between various law enforcement agencies in the UAE and South Africa on the way forward are ongoing. The South African government will continue to co-operate with the UAE,” the department said.
On Twitter, Dubai police said: “The force is now co-ordinating with authorities in South Africa regarding the extradition file to complete the legal procedures.
“This is done in co-operation with competent authorities, including the Ministry of Justice, Dubai Public Prosecution, Executive Office to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and the Financial Intelligence Unit.”
The brothers are wanted in South Africa in connection with the R25 million Nulane Investment case in the Free State and other matters related to fraud and corruption.
The NPA’s Investigative Directorate said last year that the Nulane matter related to a R25m feasibility study in 2011 that was allegedly irregularly awarded to Nulane Investment, a company owned and controlled by Iqbal Sharma. Last year, Interpol issued red notices against Atul Gupta and his wife, Chetali; Rajesh Gupta and his wife, Arti; former Nulane Investment, Bank of Baroda account signatory Ankit Jain; director of Wone Management Ravindra Nath; and the directors of Pragat Investments, Ramesh Bhat and Jagdish Parekh.
Responding to questions by the Daily News, Interpol’s press office would neither confirm nor deny the arrests. It said the organisation did not comment on specific cases or individuals. It referred questions back to the UAE authorities.
NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said on Tuesday the NPA was engaging with the relevant authorities on the Guptas’ arrest.
“The National Prosecuting Authority has noted confirmation of the arrests of the two Gupta brothers in the UAE. Extradition is a complex process involving many role-players, including the executive. It would therefore not be appropriate for the NPA to discuss the details of that process in the media but can confirm that we are engaging with relevant authorities in SA and UAE,” Mhaga said.
He said the NPA had an experienced team of internal and external experts working closely with law enforcement and their partners in the criminal justice system on the matter.
The Gupta family stands accused of using their influence to wield political power across various spheres of the South African government. The brothers fled the country in 2016 and South Africa signed and ratified an extradition treaty with the UAE in 2021.
Daily News