This is part 1 of a 4-part series
South Africa – The Gupta siblings are in the spotlight
Will Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta’s escapades end soon? The three Indian-born brothers – aged 55, 53 and 42 respectively – were at the head of a sprawling industrial empire worth $780m (€695m) and were employing 8,000 people in businesses ranging from IT and mining, to logistics and media. Originally from Saharanpur in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, they moved to South Africa in 1993, a year before apartheid came to an end.
Close to former president Jacob Zuma, who was forced to resign in 2018, the brothers are accused of having – with his complicity – plundered public resources. Police estimate that the siblings embezzled €2.5bn, a large-scale siphoning of public accounts from which the country is still struggling to recover. The Gupta siblings, who are wanted by the courts, have gone
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