"Arrest warrant will be issued to at least one Gupta" - City Press sources

Ajay and Tomy Gupta

“Arrest warrant will be issued to at least one Gupta” – City Press sources

The net really is closing in on the corrupt billionaires

"Arrest warrant will be issued to at least one Gupta" - City Press sources

Ajay and Tomy Gupta

The fight to hold our state captors accountable exploded into life on Monday evening. This was after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced they were looking to seize Gupta assets and those of Trillian and McKinsey.

As reported by City Press, it now it seems that the NPA – and Shaun Abrahams, of all people – are ramping up their efforts to charge the Gupta brothers for their co-ordinated looting of state resources, and illegitimate monopoly of government contracts.

Will the Guptas be arrested?

A source from Hawks spoke to the publication. He confirmed that there will be an arrest warrant issued ‘for at least one of the Gupta brothers’. However, the source was unable to confirm exactly when this would happen, and whether it would be Ajay, Tony, or Atul facing the music first.

Around R1.6 billion of Gupta assets are to be seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit. The orders were granted under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. It allows for assets alleged to be acquired through criminal activities to seized pending the outcome of the owner(s) prosecution.

Gupta associates set to come under fire

And if you’ve jumped into bed with the Guptas at any point in the last decade, be afraid. Be very afraid. The Hawks source who spoke to City Press revealed that the wheels are in motion to prosecute Duduzane Zuma and Mosebenzi Zwane.

Duduzane, the son of Jacob Zuma, has been an extremely active business partner to the Guptas in SA. He’s been involved in several eyebrow-raising deals with the family, and has been able to use his positions of influence to help his father out.

The Free State heist

Mining Minister Zwane has been less subtle than Duduzane, however. He has lurched between Gupta scandals, implicating himself at every turn. He was the mastermind behind the Vrede farm fiasco during his time as the Free State MEC for agriculture.

A large tender and 4,400 hectares of land were awarded to a Gupta shell company, Estina, in the province. Mr Zwane also arranged for a private Gupta jet to use a local military base as a personal landing space. That’s about as gross as gross misconduct gets.

Can South Africans afford to get excited, here? We’ve had many false dawns before. But it now seems like there is real, tangible progress in prosecuting the Guptas. It’s amazing what happens when people withdraw their support for Jacob Zuma