Guptas’ days are numbered

AS THE South Gauteng High Court postponed the application by a Canadian government to ground the Guptas’ private jet yesterday, Indian authorities were raiding the controversial family’s businesses and properties at their native Saharanpur province.

The urgent application, brought by Canadian state-owned Export Development Canada (EDC), will now be heard on Friday.

The application follows the Guptas’ failure to service their $41-million (R482-million) loan for the aircraft while the EDC, who financed the transaction, are also convinced that the Guptas are using the plane to evade prosecution. Apparently the Guptas still owe $27-million (R317-million) on the plane that they partially financed with money stolen from the doomed R227-million Vrede Dairy Farm project, in the Free State.

It was reported last week that the Bombardier Global 6 000 business jet, with the tail number ZS-OAK, could no longer be tracked as the Guptas have made its location private. According to the Washington Post, which reported the latest developments on the story, the disappearance of the Gupta plane was noted on FlightAware, a website that tracks locations of aircraft.

The site said the Gupta plane’s location is “not available for public tracking per request from the owner/operator”.

The Guptas’ failure to service the loan could suggest that they are running out of their stash of stolen money. However this would be hard to believe considering that they had made a whopping R1.5-billion in kickbacks from international companies doing business with state-owned enterprises without as much as moving a finger.

Another plausible theory could be that they are not making the payment so as to avoid detection.

One of the Gupta brothers Ajay Gupta is currently being sought by the Hawks, who have declared him a fugitive from justice. In Saharanpur, from where the Guptas originate, Indian tax authorities raided the Guptas’ house there. They also raided the offices of Ajay’s accountant – looking into the scandal-prone family’s accounting and expenditure records. Ajay is believed to be hiding in Dubai. Last month the family’s Saxonwold compound was also raided by the Hawks and eight Gupta-linked individuals were arrested in connection with the Vrede case. It is clear that the days of the Gupta brothers as free men are closely coming to an end. It is only a matter of time before they are captured and brought to South African to face to the litany of corruption charges levelled against them.

While our law-enforcement agencies may have taken their time to investigate the cases – probably out of fear of then president Jacob Zuma – they seem to have secured cooperation with other countries where the Guptas might have an interest. The developments coming out of Saharanpur are also encouraging as the Indian authorities are making it clear that they will not tolerate Gupta corruption on their doorstep.

The corrupt family will soon run out of places to hide.

When all is said and done, the Guptas have to return every cent that they stole from the South African taxpayer.