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NPA to appeal R24.9 million Nulane Investments discharge ruling
A application for leave to appeal will be lodged next week.
Limakatso Moorosi, Seipati Dlamini, Iqbal Sharma, Ronica Ragavan and Dinesh Patel appear at the Bloemfontein High Court on 23 January 2023. Picture: Gallo Images/Volksblad/Mlungisi Louw
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has decided to challenge the acquittal of the accused in the R24.9 million Nulane Investments fraud and money laundering case.
Last month, five of the accused successfully applied for discharges in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
This resulted in the Bloemfontein High Court dropping the charges against them following the trial, which kicked off on 23 January this year.
All of eight accused were found not guilty, with Acting Judge Nompumelelo Gusha ruling that the state failed to produce evidence implicating the Gupta family and its associates in the alleged Nulane fraud.
‘We will not give up’
The NPA and Investigating Directorate (ID) has confirmed on Thursday that they will appeal the damning judgment.
“The prosecution team has taken time to carefully interrogate all aspects of the judgement and the investigating director has decided to appeal the judgement,” the institutions said in a statement.
The institutions indicated that they would hold a media briefing next week once the application for leave to appeal has been lodged.
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“Notwithstanding serious concerns with the judgement, which will be outlined in the papers and dealt with in the legal process, this case demonstrates the urgency to finalise the process to make the ID a permanent entity, with requisite criminal investigative powers and expanded partnerships, as detailed in the president’s response to the Zondo commission reports,” the statement further reads.
“While this judgement is a setback, the ID remains focused and committed to ensuring that justice prevails for state capture and other serious corruption within its mandate, and that those most responsible are held to account and deprived of their ill-gotten gains.
“This is a fight for the future of our country which we will not give up on, but it won’t be a quick or easy win,” ID head Andrea Johnson added.
In her ruling, Judge Gusha repeatedly criticised the state’s inability to collect evidence, saying it was “lamentable”.
“To say that the manner in which the case was conducted is comedy, would be the understatement of the millennium,” she said.
READ MORE: Two Gupta associates plead not guilty in R37.7m Estina tax fraud trial
The state had argued that the Free State Department of Agriculture paid R24.9 million between 2011 and 2012 to Nulane Investments, a company owned and controlled by Gupta associate, Iqbal Sharma, to do a feasibility study for the Mohoma Mobung project.
The Nulane matter led to the controversial Estina/Vrede Dairy Farm project, which cost the Free State department of agriculture more than R280 million.
Guptas extradition
Regarding the extradition of the Gupta brothers, the NPA insisted that South Africa followed all necessary procedures with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“The NPA remains deeply concerned, in light of the fact that it worked through South Africa’s Central Authority and did everything in line with the UAE treaty requirements, and also complied with all other requests of the UAE authorities.”
The UAE dismissed South Africa’s request to have Gupta brothers, Rajesh and Atul, extradited back to the country to face money laundering and fraud charges.
South Africa delivered a formal extradition request in July 2022, following the Gupta brothers’ arrest in the UAE a month earlier.
According to Justice and Correctional Services Minister, Ronald Lamola, the Guptas appeared in court in the UAE on 13 February without South Africa being notified.
Lamola said last month that South Africa would engage with the UAE to lodge an appeal.
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