‘Red notice’ against Indian brothers as Zuma fights to stay out of jail
SOUTH AFRICAN prosecutors on Monday (5) announced a key step in their bid to extradite the India-born Gupta brothers who were allegedly at the centre of a massive web of corruption.
The three Gupta siblings – Ajay, Atul and Rajesh – are at the centre of a long-running probe into the embezzlement of state assets under former president Jacob Zuma.
In a statement, the prosecution authority’s chief investigator, Hermione Cronje, said Interpol had issued a “red notice” against Atul and Rajesh.
Red notices are a global alert enabling law enforcers to arrest a person sought for prosecution or serving a sentence and detain them pending extradition.
The three brothers are at the centre of a 2016 graft report by South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog, which claims they paid bribes in exchange for massive state contracts and influence ministerial appointments.
They fled South Africa shortly after a judicial commission started in 2018 and are suspected of being in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Last month South Africa said it was close to finalising an extradition treaty with the UAE.
Ajay, who is not named in the red notice, is part of a separate case, Cronje’s office said.
Atul and Rajesh Gupta are being sought in connection with a 25-million-rand (£1.27m) contract paid to a Gupta-linked company, Nulane Investments, to conduct an agricultural feasibility study, it said. The red notice also applies to Atul’s wife, Chetali Gupta.
In 2019, the US Treasury slapped sanctions on the Guptas, effectively freezing their assets under US jurisdiction, and forbade Americans – particularly international banks with any US operations – from transactions with them.
The alert came as Zuma sought to avoid jail after he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt after failing to appear before anti-corruption investigators.
South Africa’s ex-president, who was handed a 15-month jail term for contempt, made another legal attempt on Tuesday (6) to dodge incarceration, going to court to seek the suspension of an arrest order. His latest bid in the Pietermaritzburg high court came as police said they would not make any move to arrest him until he had fully exhausted his legal battle against the sentence.
Zuma has mounted a twopronged last-ditch attempt to avoid jail after the Constitutional Court, the country’s top judicial authority, slapped him with the sentence last week.
He was told to turn himself in by midnight last Sunday (4), failing which police would be instructed to arrest him within the following three days.
Last Friday (2), Zuma, 79, rushed to court seeking to halt the execution of the arrest order.
The Zondo Commission is examining allegations that he allowed the Guptas to plunder state resources and traffic influence over government policy.
Zuma and the Gupta brothers, who fled to Dubai after Zuma was ousted, deny any wrongdoing.
Zuma also faces a separate court case relating to a $2 billion (£1.45bn) arms deal in 1999 when he was deputy president.
The former president denies the charges.