AFRICAN SAFARI
by Ushinor Mazumdar
AJAY Gupta speaks with a slight Afkrikaans accent , the result of his long stay in his adopted country , South Africa ( SA ). His English vocabulary is scant , but he has picked up what is needed to run a business emp ire that includes mining , energy , technology and media . But you cannot miss the Indian in the short and suave businessman — in a plush suite in Delhi ’ s Maurya Sheraton hotel , he off ers paneer rolls to a select group of journalists .
It is nowhere close to one of the lavish parties he is known for throwing . Ajay , after all , is a fugitive in SA , where his family is acc used of “ state capture ”, a term used to describe political corruption in which private companies or business leaders influence a state ’ s decision-making processes to their own advantage . Almost the entire 14th floor of the hotel is booked for the Gupta family , which flew out of SA in February after a local court issued an arrest warrant against Ajay .
One of the biggest casualties of the state capture scandal was Jacob Zuma , 76 , who was forced to resign as South Africa ’ s president shortly before the Guptas fled the country . The Guptas are closely associated with Zuma , and his son Duduzane was a business associate of the India-born Ajay and his two brothers , Atul and Rajesh . The three brothers had moved to SA from Uttar Pradesh in 1993 .
Ajay , 52 , however , denies any wrongdoing and says his family is “ the collateral damage of political rivalry and trial by media ”. And he has no intentions of returning to SA anytime soon . At least , not until “ they tell me why they are looking for me ”. “ My legal team says , ‘ Let us find out what exactly the issue is ’, and that is the fight with the NPA ( National Prosecution Authority ),” he says in his first comments to the media since leaving SA .
Another casualty was the international audit firm , KPMG , which had to change its SA leadership , fire a few partners and publicly distance itself from the Guptas ,
USHINOR MAZUMDAR
PITCHING HIS SIDE Ajay Gupta in a Delhi hotel
In Hiding , But Quite Famously
The Indian family behind a South African president ’ s fall
saying their business with the family went on for far too long . Ajay says he has not seen any such statement and claims to have a different letter from the auditors , which he did not share .
On paper , Ajay does not own any shares or hold a key position in any of the companies . But his role as the family patriarch ensures his decisions are final . Such is the clout that a powerful Indian businessman and private cricket team owner in India is said to have once sat at Gupta ’ s feet , begging for mercy in SA for harassing one of his relatives .
In a recent legal victory , a South African court ordered lifting of an asset seizure order against the controversial family as there were “ no reasonable grounds ” to freeze properties worth nearly $ 20 million , according to South African national daily Business Day .
Ajay had filed an RTI with the Indian government asking about investigations against him and if any Indian probe agency had issued ‘ look out circulars ’ for him . After failing to get a reply , he moved the Delhi High Court . No , responded the Bureau of Immigration , in a sworn affidavit . The other Guptas did not ask this question as most of them are now naturalised South African citizens .
The Guptas ’ troubles are not confined to SA . A government lawyer tells Outlook that Ajay had sought anticipatory relief from the high court against probes into their Indian affairs . In March , the Income Tax department raided the Guptas ’ residence in Saha r- anpur following media reports that the family was building a Rs 200- crore temple in the UP town . The temple was said to be bigger than Delhi ’ s iconic Akshardham . ( See Prez Zuma ’ s West UP Connect in Outlook , October 30 , 2017 )
But all that the I-T sleuths found were empty jewellery boxes . An officer suspected they could have been emptied recently . The trail of donations to the religious trust constructing the temple revealed multiple suspicious remittances , including through a nationalised bank , which is yet to answer queries from revenue officials .
Sources tell Outlook that Rs 25 crore was allegedly transferred to the religious trust and originally booked as a loan . Later , it was shown as a donation . The amount was passed through a retainer of the Guptas , who later died of an illness . The retainer allegedly did not have a PAN number , nor had he ever filed his returns .
Ajay claims the I-T raids were due to the media focus on their businesses , and that there is only one criminal case against the family in SA , in which the arrest warrant was issued . He says their troubles began in 2015 when the then finance minister of SA approached a high court there . “ The minister wanted a declaratory order in relations between a bank and a private client , where he is not authorised to interfere … We won the case ,” Ajay says . “ Since then , the banks
18 OUTLOOK 18 June 2018