We are searching for Gupta family — committee

The parliamentary committee investigating the alleged capture of Eskom by the Guptas is battling to locate the controversial family and their lawyers in order to serve them with notice to appear before it, says inquiry chairwoman Zukiswa Rantho.

Rantho, an ANC MP, told the media on Wednesday that the public enterprises committee still wanted the Guptas to appear before the inquiry. However‚ it had been struggling to make contact with the family since December, when they last exchanged communications.

Rantho said they tried to contact the lawyers who last wrote to the committee on behalf of the family‚ but the legal firm told them the Guptas were no longer their clients. The Guptas had been lined up to appear before the Eskom inquiry on March 13‚ but the committee has not yet had a response.

“It’s still a problem — the issue of the Guptas — because we don’t know where they are but we’re going to look for them,” said Rantho. “We’ll have to check if we can find them in Saxonwold‚ or an office where they now operate from‚ those that are here‚ because we only know of one person who’s outside the country.”

In a court affidavit signed in Dubai last week‚ Atul Gupta confirmed he was out of the country, while his brother Ajay has been declared a fugitive from justice after the commercial crimes unit of the Hawks swooped on their Saxonwold compound as part of its investigations into the family.

Rantho said Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba would be appearing next Tuesday.

Former SAA chairwoman Dudu Myeni and former Eskom chairman Ben Ngubane are also expected to appear.