Atul Kumar Gupta Atul Kumar Gupta outside the Randburg Magistrate Court. File Picture.
Durban - The GOOD Party has written to Parliament Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, asking her to schedule a debate on the failed extradition application involving Gupta brothers Atul and Rajesh.
The Department of Justice and Correctional Services last week confirmed that the United Emirates Arabs (UAE) turned down South Africa’s request to have the Gupta brothers extradited to South Africa to face charges of money laundering and fraud.
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said the UAE court turned down the request as the court found that on the charge of money laundering, the crime in question is alleged to have been committed in the UAE and in South Africa. According to federal laws of the UAE, an extradition can be denied because the UAE has the jurisdiction to prosecute the crime.
The court also found on the charge of fraud, that the arrest warrant relating to this charge was cancelled.
GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron said the extradition of the Gupta brothers was legally, morally, politically and emotionally important for South Africa.
“After all the investment in the Zondo Commission of Inquiry, their extradition should have signalled progress in the State’s capacity to fight corruption and state capture.
“Instead, the failure of the extradition application, blamed by the UAE on a fault in the application process, effectively handed the brothers a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
He said it is imperative that Parliament urgently discusses this matter, as a mechanism to hold government to account as well as to provide clarity to citizens on what actually went wrong.
“The idea that the Gupta bothers are off the hook and roaming free is both devastating and suspicious. South Africans deserve answers and, where necessary, consequences for this failure.
“The GOOD Party has therefore written to the Speaker requesting that she schedule this serious matter of national importance for debate by the House,” said Herron.