By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) Investigating Directorate (ID) has applied to Interpol to assist with arrest warrants for, among others, Atul Gupta, wife Chetali, Rajesh Gupta and his wife, Arti.
The issuing of the arrest warrants coincided with the arrest on Wednesday of Iqbal Sharma in connection with a payment of R25-million which the Free State Department of Agriculture made to Nulane, a company Sharma controlled. Sharma appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. He, alongside Peter Thabethe, Dr Limakatso Moorosi and Seipati Dlamini were charged with fraud and money laundering in connection with the Nulane transaction.
ID head advocate Hermione Cronje said the directorate has asked Interpol to arrest and extradite the Guptas to stand trial in South Africa on fraud charges.
The modus operandi used in this case appears to have been replicated in other government departments and projects. It is therefore critical that the evidence gathered in this matter is presented to court and a verdict obtained expeditiously.
“It is for this reason that prosecutors have decided to proceed separately against the accused currently in the country and those abroad, as the process of arrest and extradition may unduly delay the trial,” Cronje said in a statement on Thursday.
Cronje said the accused would be handed a final indictment together with the contents of the case docket, on 15 June 2021 in order to facilitate a speedy trial.
The matter then will be postponed to the high court for the accused to plead to the charges, Cronje added.
Other suspects the ID seeks to bring to the country include former Nulane Investment Bank of Baroda account signatory Ankit Jain, director of Wone Management Ravindran Nath and Pragat Investment directors Ramesh Bhat and Jagdish Parekh.
In its indictment, the ID argues that in 2011, Sharma, Thabethe, Moorosi and Dlamini devised a fraudulent scheme which saw Nulane appointed to conduct a feasibility study to determine if the R288-million Estina dairy project was feasible. The indictment shows that the department paid Nulane R25-million for the feasibility study.
After getting the money, Nulane appointed and paid Deloitte Consulting R1.5-million to conduct the study. The rest of the money was laundered through a series of accounts, ending in Gateway, a company incorporated in the United Arab Emirates and owned and controlled by the Gupta brothers.