Jacob Zuma Controversy: Gupta Brothers’ Indian Properties Raided

South Africa’s anti-graft watchdog has accused the Guptas of using their friendship with Zuma to amass wealth.

Indian tax inspectors raided premises of the Gupta family, which is at the centre of a corruption scandal involving South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Indian tax inspectors, on Tuesday, 6 March, raided the premises of the Gupta family – at the centre of a corruption scandal involving South Africa's former president, Jacob Zuma – on suspicion they were bringing money into their native country, an official said.

South Africa’s anti-graft watchdog has accused the India-born Gupta brothers of using their friendship with Zuma to influence policy and amass wealth. Zuma and the Gupta brothers deny any wrongdoing.

Amrendra Kumar, a senior income tax official in Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters that the Gupta brothers were suspected of finding ways to bring "illicit money" they had earned abroad into India.

"We want to look into blocking that way", Kumar said on the phone, adding that he was involved in the ongoing raids.

"They make all kind of illegal money there outside, these are the allegations which we want to look into", he said.

The three Gupta brothers, Atul, Ajay and Rajesh, went to South Africa in the early 1990s and built a commercial empire stretching from computers to mining and media. Last month, South African police raided Guptas’ properties there as part of an investigation into their dealings.

South Africa's chief prosecutor declared Ajay Gupta a "fugitive from justice" after he failed to report to police investigators.

On Tuesday, Indian officials conducted raids at residences of the Guptas in Saharanpur, UP and the nearby town of Dehradun, as well as at one of their offices in New Delhi, Kumar said.

A top judge in South Africa will investigate whether the Guptas sought to influence the appointment of cabinet ministers there and if they were unlawfully awarded state tenders.

South Africa's new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has made fighting corruption a top priority.

(This article has been published in an arrangement with Reuters)

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