INTERPOL has been asked to assist with the execution of arrest warrants for the Gupta family and four others to appear in court over R24 million fraud, the National Prosecuting Authority has said.
Former Transnet board member and business partner to Gupta associate Salim Essa, Iqbal Sharma, and three former senior Free State government officials appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Thursday, 3 June on charges of procurement fraud involving R24 million paid by the Free State Department of Agriculture to Nulane Investment 204 (Pty) Ltd, a company owned and controlled by Sharma.
According to NPA Investigating Directorate’s Sandisiwe Seboka, from there the funds were diverted to Islandsite Investments 180 (Pty) Ltd, a company owned and controlled by the Gupta family.
In the charge sheet handed in at court on Thursday, the state alleges Iqbal Sharma, former rural development HoD Peter Thabethe, former agriculture HoD Limakatso Moorosi, and former agriculture department chief financial officer Seipati Dhlamini colluded to divert funds earmarked for rural development in the Free State.
These funds were then placed at the disposal of the Gupta family.
Seboka said the R24 million was purportedly paid to Nulane to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State’s flagship Mohoma Mobung project, on the basis that Nulane had unique skills to perform the work.
“Nulane Investments, however, had no employees on its books and, in fact, subcontracted Deloitte Ltd to produce the report, for which Deloitte was paid R1,5 million,” said Seboka.
“The only change made to the Deloitte report was to identify Paras dairy as a suitable implementing partner for the development of a milk processing plant in Vrede.”
The accused face charges of fraud and money laundering. The former government officials are also charged with contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.
Seboka said the NPA’s Investigating Directorate is opposing bail.
The bail application for two of the accused took place on Thursday and the bail application for two more will take place on Monday, 7 June.
The fifth suspect in the matter, Iqbal Sharma’s brother-in-law and a representative of Nulane Investments, Dinesh Patel, will formally appear on 15 June due to health reasons.
They’re charged together with companies Nulane Investment 204 (Pty) Ltd (owned and controlled by Sharma), Wone Management (Pty) Ltd, Pragat Investment (Pty) Ltd, Islandsite Investments (Pty) Ltd. The balance of accused listed in the charge sheet are not currently in South Africa.
NPA Investigating Directorate head Advocate Hermione Cronje said the NPA is applying to Interpol to assist with the execution of arrest warrants in respect to Atul Gupta and his wife Chetali; Rajesh Gupta and his wife Arti; Ankit Jain, former Nulane Investment Bank of Baroda account signatory; Ravindra Nath, director of Wone Management (Pty) Ltd; and Ramesh Bhat and Jagdish Parekh, the directors of Pragat Investments (Pty) Ltd.
“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’s 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,” said Seboka.
