Guptas said they were ‘good corporate citizens’

When Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene first met the Gupta family at a dinner after ex-president Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address in 2009, the family marketed themselves as “good corporate citizens” who wanted “nothing to do with government business”, he told the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture yesterday.

Nene, the first sitting Cabinet minister to testify before the commission, said at the time, he was deputy finance minister.

Little did he know that more invitations from the family would be coming his way.

“I visited them on two occasions in 2010 and was later invited to tour the Sahara Computers offices in Midrand.

“They marketed themselves as good corporate citizens who paid taxes and did not do any business with the state. They indicated to me that they were in the computer and mining industries.”

Asked by commission senior counsel Paul Pretorius whether he saw anything wrong in visiting the Guptas at their home, Nene said: “I regarded the visits as one of my tasks as deputy finance minister to engage with different stakeholders in the economy.

“The visits were initially to discuss the economy and to contribute an article to their magazine, The Thinker. Later visits were related to an impending launch of The New Age newspaper.”