Ajay threatened to kill me, Jonas tells capture inquiry

So compromised was the criminal justice system and so influential was the Gupta family – running government affairs from their Saxonwold compound during the Jacob Zuma presidency in 2015 – that their mission was to reach R8 billion in fleecing the fiscus.

With R6 billion in their possession at the time – some of which they said was safely stashed in Dubai – they needed more money from the South African taxpayer.

To reach their goal, the fam- ily desperately wanted former finance deputy Mcebisi Jonas appointed finance minister to replace Nhlanhla Nene, who was in Zuma’s firing line.

And it was Ajay Gupta who threatened to kill Jonas if he revealed information about their meeting.

Jonas was also offered a R600 million bribe, the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture heard yesterday.

But it was as he was on the way out of the Guptas’ Saxonwold compound that Ajay allegedly approached him and said: “This meeting did not happen hey ... you say anything to anyone, if you suggest [this] meeting occurred, we will kill you.”

Jonas described the full details of the October 2015 meeting. He said he had been requested by former president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane to attend a meeting, without being given the details.

Duduzane seemed nervous when he first met him, in Rosebank on October 27, 2015, said Jonas.

“He appeared nervous, spoke vaguely and said his father loved him.”

The next meeting was at the Gupta home.

Drawing laughter from those in attendance at the inquiry, Jonas described the boastful manner Ajay spoke as being “like a radio”.

“He said they knew me and those around me. They had also gathered a lot of information,” said Jonas.

He said he was told the Guptas were in control of everything – the intelligence, Hawks and NPA – and that “the old man would do everything they tell him to do”.

As Jonas walked out of the meeting, he was “dragged towards the bar area and offered R600 000 and asked whether I had a bag”.

While following Jonas inside the house, an enraged Ajay was “on the verge of punching me”.

Asked by evidence leader Phillip Mokoena why he did not immediately report the Gupta bribery offer, he said: “My confidence in the criminal justice system at the time was very low. I have seen nothing happening to some cases that were reported.

“I didn’t want to find myself compromised. There was a shift at political level in favour of state capture.” – Additional reporting by ANA