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An urgent meeting has been requested between the South African and United Arab Emirates central authorities as well as Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola and his counterpart in the UAE – to get an update on the status of an extradition application relating to Atul Gupta and Rajesh Gupta.
The brothers were arrested in the UAE last year. They are wanted by the South African authorities on charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering.
In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services said it was waiting for an update on the status of its extradition application pertaining to Atul and Rajesh Gupta of the UAE.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Lamola expressed concern that after a visit by the Central Authority to the United Arab Emirates to ensure that the application met the requirements of the UAE authorities, there was no update on the first court appearance of the fugitives to determine whether there will be a hearing on the application for extradition.
“To date, the Central Authority has made several inquiries, the latest request is an urgent meeting between the two central authorities and the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates,” the Ministry said.
The Ministry is pursuing this case through the diplomatic channels under the extradition treaty between the two countries.
The brothers are wanted in South Africa in connection with the R25 million Nulane Investment fraud and money laundering case.
The case relates to procurement fraud involving R24.9 million, which was paid by the Free State Department of Agriculture (FSDoA) to Nulane Investment, a company owned and controlled by Iqbal Sharma, between November 2011 and April 2012.
From there, the funds were diverted to Islandsite Investments 180, a company owned and controlled by the Gupta family.
The R24.9 million was allegedly paid to Nulane to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State’s flagship Mohoma Mobung project, on the grounds that Nulane had unique skills to carry out the work.
The group is charged along with three companies, which include: Nulane Investment 204, Wone Management, Pragat Investment and Islandsite Investments.
The other accused in the case are former government and state entity officials, former Transnet councillor Iqbal Sharma, former Free State Head of Department for Rural Development, Peter Thabethe, former Head of FSDoA, Limakatso Moorosi, former FSDoA Chief Financial Officer, Seipati Dhlamini and Nulane Investment Employee, Dinesh Patel.
– SAnews.gov.za
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