Who Are Gupta Brothers of South Africa: What Happened To Gupta Brothers?
Who are Gupta Brothers: Atul and Rajesh Gupta- have been recently arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under charges of fraud, money laundering and misusing their ties with former South African President Jacob Zuma to earn profits.
The third brother- Ajay Gupta- has still not been arrested and the reason for the same remains unclear.
An Interpol Red Notice has been issued against the brothers for influencing powerful government appointments, misusing state finances and assets. However, the two brothers have clearly denied the charges.
The brothers are also suspected of money laundering in India, where tax authorities raided their homes in multiple places throughout the country in 2018, including their company’s headquarters in Delhi.
Who are the Gupta brothers?
The three Gupta brothers- Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh Gupta- hail from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur from where they moved to South Africa in 1993 to start their own business. Atul Gupta had set up a company called Correct Marketing- which was later renamed to Sahara Computers and Sahara Systems (Pvt) Ltd- which focused on selling computers and other such accessories in the year 1994.
The company, in 1997, reported a turnover of Rs 97 million with almost 10,000 employees and advancement in various sectors like mining, air transport, energy, technology and media segments, reported Times Now.
Within a span of time, the Gupta brothers developed a strong bond with former South-African president Jacob Zuma. The ties between the two parties grew stronger when Zuma’s wife and children (a son and a daughter) started working in the Gupta-run enterprises as senior officials.
In 2018, the Gupta brothers fled South Africa as soon as they came to know that an investigation was being conducted by a judicial commission following Zuma’s forced resignation owing to corruption charges.
South African officials have asserted that they were in talks with the UAE about extradition and negotiated an extradition deal in 2021.
The South African Department of Justice and Correctional Services said, “The ministry of justice and correctional services confirms that it has received information from law enforcement authorities in the UAE that fugitives of justice, namely Rajesh and Atul Gupta have been arrested.”
The deputy jailor of Banda Jail has been suspended for ”not cooperating” with senior officials during a recent inspection of the prison where mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari is lodged, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The jail was jointly inspected by the district magistrate and the Superintendent of Police on Monday night during which Deputy Jailor Vireshwar Pratap Singh did not cooperate with them and also tried to “cover-up” certain irregularities, Jailor Virendra Kumar Verma told PTI. The DM had sent a letter to the Inspector General of Prisons and Reforms in Lucknow in this regard.
Deputy Inspector General of Prisons Administration and Reforms Lucknow Shailendra Kumar suspended the deputy jailor with immediate effect on Tuesday evening and attached him to Prison Training Institute, Lucknow.
Verma said Ansari is being given the same facilities as other prisoners under the jail manual.
“The allegation of providing (additional) facilities to jailed mafia don and former MLA Mukhtar Ansari is not mentioned in the suspension order,” he said in reply to a query.