Appeal to stop the Guptas from fleeing SA as the Hawks and NPA close in
The Democratic Alliance has appealed to ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa to ensure that South Africa’s borders and airports are put on alert in order to stop the Gupta family from trying to flee the country ahead of their reported imminent arrests.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said that the family is a flight risk, and that measures need to be taken to ensure that the family does not flee South Africa – and certainly not with the assistance with government.
“Following reports that warrants of arrest are being prepared for at least one Gupta brother as well as a high-ranking politician, our borders should be urgently secured to prevent the Guptas from slipping through the net,” Maimane said.
“It is unlikely that the Gupta family will sit and wait for their arrest. There is a strong possibility that they will attempt to flee the country, if they have not done so already.”
Worries of the Guptas fleeing the country stem from a highly publicised exit from the country in April 2016, when the state capture allegations were first published in the media. The hasty exit and extended leave of absence from the country was painted as a holiday in Dubai.
The appeal by the DA follows reports by the City Press on Monday, citing senior officials in the Hawks that the investigation unit has secure warrants to arrest one of the Gupta brothers and associates, and was waiting for the NPA to sign off on them.
The paper described the arrests as “imminent”, with the charges stemming from the Public Protector’s report into state capture.
The speculation over the arrests follows other activity within the NPA tackling the Guptas and related businesses which have been implicated in state capture.
On Tuesday the NPA confirmed that it would be serving an freezing order on global consultancy McKinsey and the Gupta-linked Trillian, seeking to seize assets amounting to R1.6 billion.
The freeze order is related to contracts McKinsey and Trillian had in place with state owned companies like Eskom and Transnet, where little work was done, but millions of rands were paid out.
McKinsey earned about R1 billion in consultancy fees from Eskom in 2016, but pledged to pay it back after being drawn into allegations that the Guptas had used their friendship with president Jacob Zuma to win lucrative government contracts.
Trillian, in which a Gupta family associate is a former shareholder, meanwhile received cash from Eskom at about the same time.
The Guptas and Zuma have consistently denied wrongdoing.
Read: State moves to seize R1.6 billion in Gupta-linked assets: report
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