Gupta emails wanted as evidence

THOSE implicated in the leaked Gupta emails could be prosecuted after an investigation team of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture applied for the emails to be admitted as evidence.

The commission, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, is charged with investigating allegations of corruption, fraud and state capture involving the Gupta family and their associates, among others.

Yesterday, the commission’s lead investigator, Terrence Nombembe, filed an affidavit for the admission of the three hard drives containing the Gupta leaks as evidence.

One hard drive is the original while two others were cloned to preserve and secure the explosive information.

Last year, a batch of emails implicating senior politicians in state capture exploded into the public domain, but those implicated questioned their authenticity.

The leaks showed how the Guptas allegedly captured key state institutions and arranged lucrative trips to Dubai for politicians and heads of state-owned companies, including Eskom.

Human rights lawyer Brian Curtin, who was approached by the whistle-blowers and handed the hard drives, told the commission how secret meetings were organised in Nairobi, Kenya, earlier this year between him, the whistle-blowers, representatives of the commission, and US authorities.

Advocate Kate Hofmeyr of the commission’s legal team said: “It is critical for the commission that the data or the information on these three hard drives be admitted in evidence, so, among other reasons, that the commission investigators can analyse, synthesise and pursue further investigations based on that information.”

Zondo, however, said it was not clear why any analysis needed the data to be admitted first.

Hofmeyr stressed that there was “a bigger story” around the information.

“This data plays a role, no doubt, and is critical to the work of this commission, but it may well also play a role in future possible criminal and civil proceedings,” she said.

“It is with a view with its use in those proceedings that the investigators of this commission are very careful to ensure that any work that they do on forensic imaging of the original data is secured in its integrity.”

Head of the legal team Paul Pretorius argued that the Gupta leaks were authentic, highlighting features like names, electronic signatures, writing styles and the email addresses.

The application for the admission of the hard drives will continue this morning.