South Africa says it has finalized an extradition treaty with United Arab Emirates to allow it to bring back members of an Indian family accused of involvement in high-level state corruption to face trial.
Brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta are believed to be living in Dubai after they hastily left South Africa around the same time former President Jacob Zuma resigned in 2018 when he was accused of overseeing massive levels of corruption at state-owned companies.
The Guptas are accused of using their association with Zuma to cash in on huge government contracts and kickbacks, and were believed to be so influential they had a say in Zuma’s appointment of Cabinet ministers.
In 2019The U.S. Treasury Department placed the three Gupta brothers on a sanctions list, accusing them of being “members of a significant corruption network.”
South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said Friday the process of extraditing the Guptas could become a lengthy legal battle.
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority has approached Interpol to assist in the execution of arrest warrants for the Guptas.
Witnesses at an inquiry have testified how the Guptas’ Johannesburg mansion became a meeting place for senior government ministers and CEO’s of state-owned companies during the Zuma years.
Zuma was president from 2009 until he was forced to step down by his African National Congress Party amid the graft scandal.
He is currently on trial for corruption related to another huge government contract before he was president, while his allegedly corrupt relationship with the Guptas is being investigated in an ongoing commission of inquiry in South Africa.
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