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CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa has vowed to take legal and diplomatic steps to capture the Gupta brothers after a shootout. united arab emirates courts Deny the extradition of these individuals on charges of money laundering and fraud and release them.
The Indian-born Gupta brothers allegedly confided in former South African president Jacob Zuma to steal billions from state arms, power and transportation companies. Zuma and the two brothers, who fled South Africa for Dubai in April 2016, have denied wrongdoing. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who succeeded Zuma, said in 2019 that at least $32 billion may have been stolen under his predecessor.
Atul and Rajesh Gupta were arrested in Dubai last June and taken into custody after Interpol put them on the wanted list. The siblings are wanted in South Africa on fraud and money laundering charges. The allegations involve millions of rand allegedly funding dairy farms in South Africa’s Free State province, allegedly laundered through Dubai, to help pay for the 2013 wedding of Vega Gupta, sister of three Gupta brothers, Achla.
The UAE said on April 7 that South Africa’s extradition request failed “to meet the strict standards of legal documentation,” adding Guptas no longer in custodyThe UAE Attorney General said Pretoria could resubmit the request with new and additional documents for reconsideration, state news agency WAM reported. Later in the day, South Africa’s justice minister, Ronald Lamola, slammed the ruling, saying his government was “shocked and dismayed” to learn that the extradition hearing had concluded.
Now, Ramaphosa’s government plans to appeal the UAE’s ruling and will raise the issue at a United Nations convention against corruption in the United States in December, Dr. Mashabane, director-general of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development, said in an interview with Bloomberg. Wednesday.
“We felt that the UAE did not take us seriously,” he said. “As we deal with serious democratic and legal systems in the world, we see how their officials go out of their way to help, and vice versa, and we really feel compromised in this case.”
The UAE claims to have detained the brothers since June 2022, but a report from the African Intelligence Service, which did not cite sources, said they were seen in Switzerland in late March. The outlet reported that the brothers traveled to the Central African Republic on a private jet using South African passports to seek asylum. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
South AfricaThe Daily Maverick reported on Wednesday that the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) will reportedly issue a letter of instruction to the UAE ambassador to South Africa to answer questions about why the Guptas were denied extradition. issue of release. The report cites a key source at DIRCO. A démarche is a formal diplomatic step, usually used against actions taken by a foreign government. Ramaphosa’s office denied on Wednesday night that South Africa would issue instructions to the ambassador.
Al-Monitor has contacted the UAE embassy in Pretoria and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment. Al-Monitor also contacted Mashabane.
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