Ajay’s family to lose SA citizenship
Parliament rules against Gigaba
Parliament’s portfolio committee on home affairs has recommended that the SA citizenship granted to Ajay Gupta’s family be revoked as it was granted fraudulently and in a corrupt manner.
This is according to a report by the committee after an investigation into the application for early naturalisation by the Guptas and “preferential treatment” the family enjoyed with home affairs during the tenure of Malusi Gigaba as minister. The committee also recommended that Ashu Chawla’s SA citizenship be revoked, as he was the “central person” in the manipulation, as well as the facilitation of illegal visas for Gupta company employees from India. Chawla is a naturalised South African of Indian descent. Moreover, the committee said Chawla and members of the Gupta family should be criminally charged for submitting false information to back up their applications. Based on evidence gathered, it found that it was reasonable to conclude that the Gupta family and Chawla “had a degree of influence over affairs of the department of home affairs and Gigaba”.
It found that the initial rejection of the application for early naturalisation was correct. It was scathing of a subsequent application by the Gupta family, this time under “exceptional circumstances”, which was approved by Gigaba. “The procedures for the verification of supporting documentation used in the applications for citizenship and particularly early naturalisation were not sufficiently rigorous and/or enforced, and thus allowed for fraud and corruption,” ruled the committee. Gigaba was not the only one found to be on the wrong side of the law. Then home affairs director-general Mkhuseli Apleni “failed in his oversight role as accounting officer”. This relates to Apleni having presided over “numerous administrative irregularities”. Ajay Gupta’s family, in convincing Gigaba of the “exceptional circumstances”, was found to have submitted incomplete and incorrect information.
The Guptas claimed to be involved in social investment in SA, with 77 schools in the North West listed as receiving Gupta-sponsored sporting equipment. Of 11 schools reached, five “indicated that they never received a donation from the Oakbay group”. “Of the six responses with donations, schools provided varying levels of detail. However, most of the schools link their donations to a competition for designing wedding invitations for the Gupta wedding, held in 2013.”