Hawks: Ajay Gupta is on the run
The Hawks are hunting down one of the Gupta brothers, Ajay, the patriarch of the family.
Hawks spokesman Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed on Thursday night that Ajay Gupta was on the run and that the unit had not heard from him. “We are looking for him. He must hand himself over.”
There was confusion from sources inside the Hawks on Wednesday, who told Business Day and other media that the crime unit was waiting for Atul Gupta to hand himself in and if he did not he was to be regarded a fugitive.
It was not clear why the Hawks were looking to arrest Ajay and not Atul.
Atul was the brother implicated in the indictment in the Vrede dairy farm matter. According to the indictment, Atul Gupta received R10m of government grant money in his personal account through Estina. Paul O'Sullivan’s Forensics For Justice has offered R100,000 reward for information leading to Ajay’s arrest in the next 48 hours.
Eight people — Oakbay CEO
Ronica Ragavan; former CEO Nazeem Howa; Gupta lieutenant Ashu Chalwa, a nephew Varun Gupta; Kamal Vasram, an IT salesman at Sahara Computers and who was the sole director of Estina; and three former Free State department of agriculture officials Seipate Dlamini, Takisi Masiteng and Peter Thabethe — appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on charges of corruption‚ fraud and theft.
Howa‚ Gupta‚ Chawla and Vasrum were released on R200‚000 bail each, while Thebetha‚ Masiteng and Dlamini were each released on R10‚000 bail.
They will appear in court again on August 17.
The indictment says that R220m in government grants was siphoned into the Guptas’ and their associates’ accounts.
In January, the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit obtained a preservation order for the funds.
The indictment against the suspects who appeared in court on Thursday contains some sensational new allegations.
It says that the suspects knew the project would “not contribute to income generation [or] decent job creation” and the government grants would be used “for their own personal gain”. It showed more than double the money than first thought, a total of R169.5m, was paid to a Gupta front company in the United Arab Emirates called Gateway, which had “no business dealings or relationships” with the dairy project.
An investigation by amaBhungane in 2017, drawing from the Gupta leaks, showed money from the dairy project was paid to Gateway, laundered through other Gupta front companies in Dubai and part of it was diverted back to SA to pay for the Guptas’ Sun City wedding.
The charge sheet also implicates Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane and ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule. It says that the project was Zwane’s brainchild when he served as MEC for agriculture in the Free State under the then premier, Magashule.
Zwane and Magashule have not been charged.
The indictment alleges that beneficiaries for the project were rustled up over a year after the contract was signed after government officials on a field visit raised questions.
It concludes that the project was simply an enrichment scheme by the suspects.