Rantho: Guptas will be called to parliament

THE Guptas will still have to appear before the inquiry into state capture in Parliament despite claims they were facing imminent arrest.

Zukiswa Rantho, acting chairperson of the portfolio committee on public enterprises, confirmed yesterday that the Guptas would be called to come to Parliament in the next few weeks after the State of the Nation address next month.

This also followed a demand by one of the brothers, who wrote to the committee last year demanding to appear before it after he was implicated in wrongdoing.

Ajay Gupta had said he would be out of the country from mid-December until January 15, when he would be available to Parliament. But Rantho said they would not be dictated to by anyone about when to come and testify.

She said the committee would next week hear the evidence of suspended Eskom chief financial officer Anoj Singh and head of generation Matshela Koko.

“We said our legal team must look at the letter (from Ajay Gupta), but we are not going to fall into the demands of the Guptas.

“They didn’t need to respond to it in 2017, but they can respond to it in 2018.

“It is us who are going to call the Guptas. After our interaction with Matshela Koko, we will sit and decide on the way forward.

“But the Guptas will come in February.”

Members of the committee had been calling for the Guptas to come and account.