By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Gupta brothers, Rajesh and Atul, have been arrested in Dubai after Interpol issued a red notice for them in connection with fraud and money laundering charges.
News24 is on Monday reporting that a high-level meeting of law enforcement agencies is currently taking place in Pretoria.
The brothers are wanted in connection with the R24.9 million Nulane Investment fraud and money laundering case, which will proceed in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein in September.
The arrests were executed by the Dubai Police’s Criminal Investigation Department of the Dubai police on Friday.
The Department of Justice and Correctional Services (JCS) confirmed the arrest the brothers’ arrest on Monday night.
“The Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services confirms that it has received information from law enforcement authorities in the UAE that fugitives of justice, namely, Rajesh and Atul Gupta have 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 in a statement.
South Africa has already requested the extradition of the Gupta brothers from Dubai, where they are believed to be in self-exile after they fled South Africa in 2018.
A number of witnesses at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture have testified about the role of the Guptas in looting huge amounts and also influencing the appointment of Cabinet ministers during the nine-year tenure of Jacob Zuma as president of the country.
The Guptas were so close to Zuma that several former politicians testified at the Commission how they had been advised of their imminent appointments as ministers even before Zuma contacted them.
Zuma, who was ousted by his own African National Congress three years ago, is also this week facing a controversial 15-month jail sentence from the apex court after the Constitutional Court found him in contempt of court for his repeated refusal to testify at the Commission.
Interpol itself made this clear on its website. “(Red Notices) are used to simultaneously alert police in all our member countries about internationally wanted fugitives. Police in other countries can then be on the watch for them and use the Red Notice to support extradition proceedings. Red Notices help bring fugitives to justice, sometimes many years after the original crime was committed,” it said.
The Interpol notices are the latest in a wave of international actions against the Guptas and another associate, Salim Essa.
In 2019, the US said that Atul, Ajay and their younger brother Rajesh Gupta as well as Essa were part of a “significant corruption network in South Africa”, declaring them persona non grata — a person who is unacceptable or unwelcome.
The Gupta family arrived from Saharanpur in India in the 1990’s as democracy dawned with the release of Nelson Mandela to grow their business empire from a humble retail shoe store to a vast empire spanning information technology, mining and media.