The Bloemfontein Regional Court is expected to hear the bail application of former Free State head of Department of Agriculture Peter Thabethe and businessman and Gupta associate, Iqbal Sharma.
The two were arrested last week and appeared in court together with former Free State head of Rural Development Dr Limakatso Moorosi and former department CFO Seipati Dhlamini who were both granted R10 000 bail each.
They are accused of fraud, corruption and money laundering for colluding to divert funds earmarked for rural development in the Free State.
The National Prosecuting Authority wants to recoup millions of rands paid irregularly by the Free State Department of Agriculture to Nulane Investment. The company is owned by sole director Iqbal Sharma. An amount of R24,9 million was paid to the company to conduct a feasibility study for potential farming projects in the Free State.
NPA Investigating Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka says it’s ready to proceed with the trial and they will oppose the bail of the two accused.
“The NPA Investigating Directorate is adamant that when the accused appear we are going to oppose bail for the two others that are still to appear again at the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court. And essentially, it’s similar grounds to the ones we opposed bail on Thursday last week. However, in this particular regard we are saying we don’t want to see a situation where we want to proceed with trial however we cannot find the accused to come to stand for trial. We are expecting that the investigating directorate legal team will come prepared to oppose the bail of the two accused and the merits will then be set up in cour,” says Seboka.
The Bloemfontein High Court has granted an order to freeze assets of Iqbal Sharma, his company Nulane Investments and Islandsite Investments. A move welcomed by Seboka
“For starters, it’s an unlimited restrain order meaning all the assets owned by Nulane Investments, the company owned by Iqbal Sharma the sole director as well as all the assets owned by Islandsite, one of the few companies in South Africa that still has assets owned by the Guptas. The directors of that particular company are the Gupta brothers Atul Gupta and Rajesh Gupta as well as their wives. Furthermore, that is the company that we are alleging where money was siphoned in and out, money laundered. So we are saying it’s the company that at one point had over R500 million within a short period of time. So we are saying this company and the Bloemfontein High Court has actually said on the balance of probabilities that reasonably this could have been assets of money laundering so they are they have been frozen.”
Seboka says plans are under way to have the Guptas extradited.
“The process is under way, meaning we have started with the application. However, like we have cited it’s not going to be an easy route. However, we are bringing each and every possible avenue in order to try to get the Guptas back into the country. We have started the extradition process. We have started our application with Interpol and various others. But what we are saying is that at the very least we are going to punch above our weight and we are going to attempt to bring them back to our country it’s only fair.”
Iqbal Sharma’s assets, which form part of the curator, include his R12 million house in Sandton, R1,3 million sectional title home in Sandton and movable property valued at R500 000. The Gupta assets that were also frozen include a R21 million house in Constantia near Cape Town and R12 million house in Saxonwold.
