By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola on Friday 11 June 2021 gave an update on South Africa’s extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The United Arab Emirates confirmed the ratification of its extradition treaty after Interpol intervened in the execution of warrants of arrests for Atul Gupta and Rajesh Gupta, along with their family members.
During the press briefing on Friday, Minister Lamola said the extradition treaty will come into effect on 10 July 2021. Lamola said “South Africa has persons of interest who are believed to be in the UAE.
“It is worth mentioning that our request for mutual legal assistance to the UAE to date was not prohibited by the fact that there were no treaties enforced between the two states”.
Lamola said South Africa will continue to pursue its counterparts “through diplomatic channels in order to reach the desired levels of cooperation and enable our law enforcement agencies to bring to justice persons of interest in any investigation they are pursuing”.
He says the treaty now signifies “a new dawn”, but states that the expectation of the treaty “is yet to be fulfilled” but warned South Africans not to expect the swift return of the Gupta’s.
South Africa and the UAE began negotiating the treaties in February 2010. The Extradition Treaty and Mutual Legal Assistance agreement between the two nations were entered into on September 25, 2018. The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services at the time, Advocate Michael Masutha, and his United Arab Emirates counterpart, Sultan Saeed Al Badi, signed Treaties on Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Within two months of agreeing, the Parliament of South Africa during its plenary sitting on 15 November 2018, ratified the Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Treaties between the Republic of South Africa and the UAE.