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South Africa: Why the Guptas dodged extradition

By Ray Mwareya

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Posted on April 17, 2023 08:49

 © File photo of Atul Gupta looks on outside Randburg magistrate court, South Africa. (Photo: AFP)
File photo of Atul Gupta looks on outside Randburg magistrate court, South Africa. (Photo: AFP)

South Africa’s embarrassing failure to extradite the infamous Gupta brothers from the UAE has shone a light on gross incompetence and growing suspicions that tainted ANC party bigwigs are relieved the Guptas will no longer implicate them in court.

On 7 April, the Dubai Court of Appeals dropped a bombshell and ruled that the Gupta brothers cannot be extradited to face a corruption trial in South Africa. Atul and Rajesh Gupta are two South African brothers of Indian ethnicity who gained notoriety in South Africa when they allegedly captured former president Jacob Zuma and made state officials hand over contracts worth billions to companies they controlled.

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