Staff Reporter
The Free State High Court has granted the Investigating Directorate (ID) a restraint order to freeze properties and assets belonging to the controversial Gupta family and their associate Iqbal Sharma who is currently in police custody in Bloemfontein.
A statement issued by ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka on Friday afternoon said the freezing order, granted in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crimes Act, will be served on Sharma at the Bainsvlei Police Station where he is being held following his arrest on Wednesday.
The other order will be served at the Gauteng address of Islandsite Investments 180 (Pty) Ltd, a company owned by Atul and Rajesh Gupta and their wives, Chetali and Arti Gupta, respectively.
“The order applies to assets in South Africa which include all property of Islandsite, Sharma and his wife Tarina Patel-Sharma, and any property held by Sharma’s companies, including two registered in the UAE (United Arab Emirates),” read part of the statement.
According to Seboka, a High Court-appointed curator will take control of and preserve the assets pending the outcome of criminal charges for fraud and money laundering offences instituted against Sharma and his company Nulane, the four Gupta family members and their company Islandsite as well and their three co-accused who appeared in the Bloemfontein Regional Court on Thursday.
The other accused are all former senior officials at the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The trio – former rural development head Peter Thabethe, former agriculture head Limakatso Moorosi and former agriculture chief financial officer Seipati Dhlamini – appeared in court alongside Sharma.
“Should the accused be convicted, the NDPP (national director of public prosecutions) will apply for a confiscation order against Sharma and Islandsite to recoup the value of benefits derived from the offences and related criminal activities,” said the ID spokesperson.
The ID is a unit of the National Prosecuting Authority.
Those accused face criminal charges related to a contract concluded between Nulane and the Free State Department of Agriculture in 2011 for which Nulane was paid R24.9 million for a feasibility study that it then subcontracted to Deloitte for R1.5 million.
The study related to potential farming projects in the Free State that were to be funded under ‘Mohoma Mobung’, a provincial initiative for rural upliftment and job creation.
Nulane recommended an Indian company, PARAS Dairy, for the Vrede dairy project now linked to the Estina fraud investigation.
The fraudulent proceeds of R24.9 million paid to Nulane by the department were transferred between Nulane and several companies, including Gupta entities Islandsite and Pragat Investments (Pty) Ltd, to allegedly launder the funds ultimately directed to the Gupta family.
Other funds that flowed between the companies as part of the money laundering transactions are presumed proceeds of unlawful activities in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
A second subcontract was concluded between Nulane and the UAE-based Gateway Limited, duplicating the one with Deloitte, in order to transfer R19 million offshore.
Gateway is linked to the Guptas.
Sharma’s assets that form part of the curator’s inventory include his Sandton home valued at over R12 million.
That property was featured on lifestyle television programme, Top Billing, and is owned through a UAE-registered company, Issar Global.
Other assets include movable property valued at R500 000 and a R1.3 million sectional title home in Sandton.
Properties owned by Gupta family company Islandsite that form part of the inventory include a house worth R21m in Constantia, near Cape Town, and a R12-million house in Saxonwold.
Sharma and Thabethe will spend the weekend in police custody until their bail hearing on Monday.
The state will oppose bail.