By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola on Friday said his department has learned with “shock and dismay” that South Africa’s application to extradite Atul and Rajesh Gupta from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been unsuccessful.
Word came in a diplomatic note received late on Thursday, informing the justice ministry that an extradition hearing had taken place in Dubai more than six weeks ago and that the court denied the request.
Addressing the media on Friday, Lamola provided a timeline on activities undertaken by government related to the extradition request.
“In February 2023, the Director-General of the Department of Justice,Doctor Mashabane in his capacity as Central Authority addressed a letter to His Excellency Addullah bin Sultan bin Awad Al Nuaimi requesting a written update on the extradition proceedings of Rajesh and Atul Gupta,” said Lamola.
“In the evening of the 6 April, we were provided with a note verbale from United Arab Emirates, in which we learnt with shock and dismay that the extradition hearing had been concluded in the Dubai Court on the 13 February 2023 and our extradition request was unsuccessful.
“The court found that on the charge of money laundering the crime in question is alleged to have been committed in the United Arab Emirates and South Africa, in terms of the federal laws of the United Arab Emirates extradition can be denied because the United Arab Emirates has the jurisdiction to prosecute the crime.
“On the charge of fraud and corruption, the court found that the arrest warrant relating to this charge was cancelled.
NPA’s National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi, said the extradition request was denied based on a technical aspect regarding a cancelled warrant of arrest.
The initial warrant of arrests did not list all the charges. When extradition was sought, new charges were added to make sure all of the charges were included,” said Batohi.
“The fact that the UAE has used this as a reason for denying the application is confusing and, in our opinion, does not make sense.”
“The reasons provided for denying our request are inexplicable and fly in the face of the assurances given by Emirati authorities that our requests meet their requirements.
“This level of non-cooperation is highly unprecedented in the arena of Extradition requests and mutual legal assistance requests.
“The United Arab Emirates conduct does not accord with the ethos of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption amid what the rule of law should achieve we believe that every state should err on the side of accountability and transparency instead of opaqueness and obfuscation.
“We still intend to engage our counterparts to ensure that the decision of the court is promptly appealed, in the recent past we are aware that Denmark has appealed and succeed in obtaining a extradition request.”
The arrest warrant and extradition request for the Guptas are linked to the Nulane Investments case and they have also been named as suspects in the Estina Dairy Farm scam.