Net closes in on the Guptas

THE net is closing in on businessmen Atul and Rajesh Gupta after Interpol issued a red notice for the two brothers on Monday. They are wanted in connection with the R24.9million Nulane Investment fraud case in the Free State.

Interpol said a red notice was a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

Red notices are issued for fugitives wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence. This now means that police around the world have been alerted to help bring the Guptas back to South Africa to stand trial for procurement fraud related to the Free State Department of Agriculture.

The red notices for the Guptas followed a request by the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Investigative Directorate last June. The Investigative Directorate indicted the brothers last year and approached Interpol to issue red notices for them and their wives.

At the time, Interpol delayed the matter after the Gupta brothers took the Investigative Directorate to an Interpol Commission where they claimed that the investigation into them was politically motivated.

Only once the commission was satisfied that the case against the Guptas met all the requirements could the red notices be issued. However, their wives, Chetali and Arti, have not been included.

Sindisiwe Seboka, the spokesperson for the NPA’s Investigative Directorate, said they could not comment on the red notices issued because this could jeopardise the matter.

By yesterday afternoon, the Guptas' names and pictures were not yet on the official Interpol website or among the 7 387 red notices in circulation.

Together with the Guptas and their wives, there were eight people who were implicated in the matter. Some of them have already appeared in court.

The Guptas are known for their links to former president Jacob Zuma and allegedly played a key role in state capture in South Africa, it emerged at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture headed by Justice Raymond Zondo.