An Indian investigative group has released a report that lends credence to claims that the Gupta family used the Baroda Bank to funnel money out of South Africa.
This investigation claims that there are transactions that show money being transferred to United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and even the United States.
It claims that some of these transfers also benefitted former president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane.
According to the investigation carried out by the Organised Crime and Corruption Project the Bank of Baroda’s South African branch was aware of how the Gupta brothers were misusing their accounts in the bank to further state capture.
The report claims the bank reportedly allowed them to move hundreds of millions of dollars originating from suspect deals into offshore accounts.
The report also alleges that Bank of Baroda issued unapproved back to back loans and loan guarantees, dismissed internal compliance efforts and prevented regulators from learning about transactions all in a bid to benefit the Guptas.
Allegedly about R4.5 billion was transferred among a few companies between 2007 and 2017 and the amount of cash flowing through the Gupta accounts was so large that it dominated transactions of the entire Bank of Baroda branch.
The bank has denied any wrongdoing and has said that its branch in South Africa followed the rules of the land and that there is no intentional wrongdoing.
