NPA’s Cronje sets her sights on the Guptas

Brothers Atul, Ajay, and Rajesh “Tony” Gupta could be enjoying the last of the fruits of their allegedly corrupt labours with the appointment of Advocate Hermione Cronje as head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Investigating Directorate.

Introduced to a battle-weary public beggared by large-scale corruption, NPA head Advocate Shamila Batohi said yesterday Cronje’s appointment was an important step to restore rule of law and address the scourge of corruption in South Africa.

Unfortunately for South Africa – and perhaps unsurprisingly – America has no extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates – but South Africa does.

“Safe havens like Dubai are a lot less safe because of the activism around opening up and creating transparency in those safe havens, but the UAE remains one of the hardest nuts to crack. There are many ways, though, to skin a cat,” Cronje said.

Cronje noted the UAE was hosting the United Nations Conference of States Parties which put it in a “very awkward” position around challenges to its transparency and assistance to countries dealing with corruption.

“So we think it’s a good time for seeking and procuring assistance from the UAE and we intend to do that, properly armed with good information,” Cronje said.

The UN conference is due to be held during June, so the Gupta brothers could conceivably be back in South Africa just in time to enjoy a sunny South African Christmas.

“That said, countries like the US and the UK will have great leverage there and we will have to become adept at finding ways around the problem,” Cronje said.

Justice Minister Michael Masutha earned America’s ire this week after putting Africa first when he repatriated former Mozambique finance minister Manuel Chang, held since December on a US arrest warrant, to face fraud and money laundering scheme that defrauded US investors to the tune of $2 billion – back to Mozambique.

Cronje said one way of circumnavigating issues was by using “other jurisdictions” which had leverage and would support SA’s efforts to hold people accountable.

Flanked by new Hawks boss Advocate Doctor Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya (to give him his full title) at yesterday’s presser, the crime-fighting triumvirate make for a formidable team in the fight against high-level corruption after she had cleaned house first – which is where Cronje said she would be starting.

“I am aware of the need to restore confidence in the institutions of government, particularly at the highest level. Aware of the constraints that we face. We need to rebuild the skill and capacity,” Cronje said, and added she was fully aware of the “almost impossible” expectations of ordinary South Africans.

As Marianne Merten wrote in Daily Maverick, the “cost of State Capture hovers at around R1.5 trillion over the second term of the Jacob Zuma administration”, and quantifying the cost was a “Gordian knot” with long-term costs hidden as “finder’s fees”, “consultancies” and “commissions” while other costs “hit hard and immediately, although their final impact can be mitigated, at least to some extent, over time”.

A large part of SA’s Gordian knot is of course the well-documented alleged shenanigans of the Guptas.

Comfortably ensconced in Dubai, the Guptas have repeatedly and strongly denied all the allegations against them, yet refused to return to South Africa, believing they would be unfairly arrested and put on trial.

In 2016, Atul was a near dollar billionaire – more than R10 billion – according to JSE listings.

In February 2018, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and The Hindu alleged: “India’s state-owned Bank of Baroda – one of India’s largest – played a crucial role in the financial machinations of South Africa’s politically influential Gupta family, allowing them to move hundreds of millions of dollars originating in alleged dirty deals into offshore accounts.”

Their report came on the heels of the Financial Times reporting in 2017 that “people familiar with the matter” had said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been “looking at individuals, bank accounts and companies in the US for ties to alleged graft involving the family”.

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