7 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
A court in the United Arab Emirates has rejected the extradition to South Africa of the brothers Atul and Rajesh Gupta, charged in the African country on charges of corruption and money laundering, in a case that linked them both to former President Jacob Zuma.
The South African Minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola, has explained that the Emirati court has denied the extradition due to a formal defect in the request before declaring his dismay at the lack of transparency exhibited by the Emirati authorities in relation to the case.
Lamola has criticized that the Emirati court made the decision in February but has not informed South Africa until this past Thursday. “The refusal seems inexplicable to us and it seems that they are rubbing it in our faces after the Emirati authorities themselves told us that our request was in accordance with the law,” she lamented in statements collected by the ‘Mail and Guardian’.
The Guptas were arrested in the Emirates in June 2022 following an Interpol order and in the midst of an investigation into relations between the two brothers and former President Zuma, after several witnesses reported that the trio had been involved in a conspiracy to appropriate funds. public. They all deny the accusations.
“This lack of cooperation”, lamented the minister, “has hardly any precedents in the field of extradition requests”.
“The South African people have every right to believe that they are being denied justice and we are going to act accordingly,” the minister said.
“We will call on our counterparts in the United Arab Emirates to honor the letter and spirit of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and assure us that they are urgently clarifying the issue that has just been opened,” he concluded.
