The United Arab Emirates in February rejected the South African government’s extradition request for the brothers Atul and Rajesh Gupta (Photo ), at the heart of a vast state corruption scandal involving ex-president Jacob Zuma.
South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said in a statement on Friday that the government had been informed on Thursday evening of the decision of a court in Dubai not to authorize the extradition of the two businessmen, arrested in the same city in June.
“We learned with amazement and dismay that the extradition hearing took place in court in Dubai on February 13, 2023 and that our extradition request was rejected,” Mr. Lamola said.
The two Guptas, as well as a third brother Ajay, of Indian origin and a formidable trio of businessmen, are accused of having looted the state coffers, with the complicity of Mr. Zuma, during his nine years in power (2009-2018).
South Africa has been trying to get their hands on the wealthy and influential family for years. An explosive report had unveiled at the end of 2016 the extent of what was baptized in the country of “state capture”.
The sulphurous trio is accused of having infiltrated the top of the state, taking advantage of a long friendship with Jacob Zuma whom they bought with bribes throughout his two terms (2009-2018) . They are said to have methodically siphoned off the coffers of the country, looted public enterprises and extended their influence to the point of influencing the choice of ministers.
The trio fled South Africa shortly following the creation in 2018 of a commission chaired by Judge Raymond Zondo to investigate state corruption.
South Africa had made an extradition request in July, shortly following the two brothers were arrested in Dubai last June.
The arrests followed the signing of an extradition treaty between Pretoria and the Emirates.
At the center of the extradition request is a dubious public contract worth the equivalent of 1.5 million euros. A tiny part of the backlog of charges once morest the Gupta brothers.
According to Mr. Lamola, the court of the United Arab Emirates considered to have jurisdiction over the acts of money laundering alleged once morest the two brothers, the acts having been committed both in the country and in South Africa.
On the charges of fraud and corruption, the court ruled that the arrest warrant had been quashed, according to the minister.
“The reasons given for the rejection of our request are inexplicable and go once morest the assurances given by the authorities of the Emirates that our request was compatible with their requirements,” he said.
The minister accused the Emirates of not having consulted sufficiently with the South African government before rejecting the extradition, adding that such a “level of non-cooperation” was “largely unprecedented”.
“We always intend to turn to our partners (…) to ensure that the court’s decision is quickly appealed,” added Mr. Lamola.
However, according to press reports published this week, the two brothers were seen in Switzerland at the end of March.
Ajay, Atul and Rajesh, now in their 50s, grew up in a middle-class family in Saharanpur, northern India (Uttar Pradesh).
In 1993, a year before Nelson Mandela’s election to the presidency, Atul flew to Johannesburg, pushed by his father then convinced that South Africa was going to become “the new America”, explained a spokesperson for family. He will be joined there by his brothers a few years later.
The brothers managed in less than 20 years to build a powerful business conglomerate there that made them one of the richest families in the country.
With AFP