By John Ikani
South Africa’s bid to extradite Atul and Rajesh Gupta, two brothers from the wealthy Gupta family, from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has failed, dealing a blow to the country’s efforts to bring them to justice.
The Guptas are accused of profiting from their close ties to former South African President Jacob Zuma and using their influence unfairly.
The brothers fled South Africa after a judicial commission began investigating a major corruption scandal.
They were arrested in the UAE last June, and extradition negotiations with South Africa began.
However, the UAE court recently rejected the extradition application on a technicality, which came as a shock to South Africa’s justice ministry.
South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola expressed disappointment and said the reasons provided for denying their request were inexplicable and went against the assurances given by Emirati authorities that their requests met requirements.
He added that the South African government plans to appeal the decision.
The court in the UAE ruled that since there were money-laundering offenses allegedly committed in the UAE as well as in South Africa, the UAE had jurisdiction to prosecute the Guptas.
The development comes as a blow to South Africa’s fight to bring the Gupta brothers to justice.
The Zondo Commission, an official inquiry, took four years to investigate allegations of high-level corruption during the Zuma presidency, exposing how billions of dollars were looted from state coffers.
The commission found that the Guptas, who once had unrestricted access to power and became known for “state capture,” attempted to influence political and economic decisions.
Many of the most serious allegations focus on their relationship with Zuma, who was president of South Africa from 2009 until he was forced to step down amid corruption allegations nine years later.
The Guptas are accused of using their close links with Zuma to secure business contracts, influence high-profile government appointments, and misappropriate state funds.
However, the Guptas deny any wrongdoing.
It has been reported in the media recently that the brothers are no longer in custody and have been sighted in Switzerland, but the justice ministry could not confirm this or whether they had acquired passports from the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
