High-level visits linked to Gupta money flows
HIGH-level Free State politicians‚ including Mosebenzi Zwane‚ visited the Gupta compound in Saxonwold days before funds started flowing to the Vrede Dairy Farm Project‚ which has been exposed as a looting ground for the Gupta family.
The Sunday Times revealed this weekend that of R220-million paid by the Free State Department of Agriculture to Estina in support of a dairy farming project meant to uplift the poor‚ only R2-million was used to pay for services relating to the farm.
This stems from court papers filed in support of a preservation order application by the NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) on Thursday last week.
In June last year‚ The Times reported on a string of visits by highlevel politicians and state officials to the Gupta home in Saxonwold.
The meetings were found scheduled on the Outlook calendar of Sahara Computer’s chief executive Ashu Chawla.
Among these visitors was Zwane‚ then MEC for rural development and agriculture in the Free State‚ who was scheduled to meet Tony Gupta on April 6.
The first payment was made to Estina on April 18.
The Guptas entertained other visitors that day – including Free State agriculture department head Peter Thabethe and Free State Treasury MEC Elzabe Rockman. All three declined to comment when approached in June last year.
There was no response to e-mail and text queries sent to a spokesman for Zwane at the weekend, and Thabethe also did not respond to detailed questions.
A spokesman for Rockman said the provincial Treasury had seen media reports pertaining to the preservation order but had yet to see the papers‚ and would only comment once they had received it.
At least R180-million flowed to Gupta companies or individuals linked to the family‚ according to the court papers, and R10-million was paid directly to Atul Gupta by Estina.
The details are revealed in affidavits attached to a preservation order applied for by the AFU‚ which was granted by the Bloemfontein High Court on Thursday.
The Sunday Times report details how investigators with the AFU found that R19-million had been paid to Stanlib for a fleet of luxury cars and R30-million had been diverted to be used as a down payment on the Guptas’ now infamous Bombardier private jet‚ ZS-OAK.
Data from the leaked Gupta e-mails show that, on the same day, R10-million from Estina found its way into Atul Gupta’s personal bank account.
It was moved out again almost immediately.
Contained in the e-mails are thousands of daily bank transfer approval requests.