Who are the Gupta brothers?
Gupta family is a well known and one of the wealthiest Indian families today, led by Ajay Gupta, Atul Gupta and Rajesh Gupta, belongs to Uttar Pradesh, India. The Gupta brothers migrated from India to South Africa in the year 1993 and established “sahara computers”. Their father Shiv Kumar Gupta started “Gupta and Company” which was a specialised distributer of soap powder.
As per the official records, this family owns a business empire spanning computer equipment, media, air travel, energy and mining sector. The Gupta family has close links with former president Jacob Zuma and is accused of being involved in several corrupt activities on a vast scale.
Corruption charges on Gupta brothers and their arrest from UAE
Even in India, the Guptas were accused of money laundering, after which in 2018, their properties including the Delhi office, were raided by the income tax department. Most of the most serious corruption charges against the Gupta brothers, revolve around their close tie-ups with former South African President Jacob Zuma. The Gupta family is accused of misusing its relations with the former president Zuma to get business contracts, high-profile government appointments and state funds.
In 2017, more than a Lakh emails were leaked, exposing the influence of the Gupta family on Jacob Zuma’s government. Guptas moved from South Africa in 2018 when the net closed in on them as huge public protests resulted in the ANC removing Jacob Zuma and appointing Cyril Ramaphosa as the new Acting President. The public officials in South Africa had claimed a lot of times of directly being instructed by the Guptas in various governmental works. The South African govt, earlier, had urged the United Nations to get the Gupta family back to the country as the negotiations between the United Arab Emirates and SA didn’t work due to no extradition treaty between both the countries.
Along with the alleged corruption charges and direct involvement in most of the governmental works, the Gupta family was also accused of influencing the formation of the cabinet during the tenure of the then president Jacob Zuma as well as the appointment of several government officials.
The South African ministry of Justice has confirmed the arrest of Gupta brothers from the UAE. The media statement issued by the ministry of Justice (SA) quoted,” The Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services confirms that it has received information from law enforcement authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that fugitives of justice, namely, Rajesh and Atul Gupta have been arrested.
Discussions between various law enforcement agencies in the UAE and South Africa on the way forward are ongoing. The South African government will continue to co-operate with the UAE.”
With this, the govt of South Africa has confirmed that the Gupta brothers – Rajesh and Atul, have been arrested from the UAE (United Arab Emirates) on Monday.
