Staff Reporter
The Free State High Court has ordered that the unlimited restraint order against the controversial Gupta family, their alleged associate Iqbal Sharma and their companies be extended to March next year.
According to a statement from the Investigating Directorate (ID), the court ruled that the order against Sharma, his two companies Nulane Investments 204 (Pty) Ltd and Issar Global Limited, as well as Islandsite Investments 180 (Pty) Ltd owned by Atul and Rajesh Gupta and their wives, Chetali and Arti, will remain in place until March 16, 2022.
“The provisional restraint order has been extended . . . by agreement between the parties,” said ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka in the statement released on Thursday.
The unlimited restraint order follows a procurement fraud case involving R24.9 million, paid between November 2011 and April 2012 by the Free State Department of Agriculture to Nulane Investments.
From there the funds were said to have been diverted to Islandsite Investments through a series of alleged illegal transactions before being paid into other company accounts.
According to Seboka, Islandsite director Ronica Ragavan filed an affidavit purportedly as the duly authorised representative of the company, opposing the confirmation of the restraint order against Islandsite in July.
“On 11 August (Judge President) Cagney Musi ruled that the company is under business rescue and thus the business rescue practitioners Kurt Knoop and Johan Klopper, not the directors, are the parties with the legal standing to represent Islandsite in the restraint proceedings,” she said.
“The business rescue practitioners . . . filed a notice of intention to oppose the confirmation of the restraint order in October and an answering affidavit on 1 November . . .”
Sharma, his wife Tarina and their company, Issar Global, have filed a joint notice of opposition to the restraint order but have not yet filed any affidavits in the matter.
According to the state, the R24.9 million was purportedly paid to Nulane to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State province’s flagship Mohoma Mobung project, on the basis that Nulane had unique skills to perform the work.
The company was required to provide a report to the department within seven months.
It however subcontracted the work to Deloitte Consulting (Pty) Ltd for R1.5 million.
But in a suspected case of money laundering, Nulane further subcontracted UAE-based Gateway Limited to do the work already completed by Deloitte – and paid Gateway over R19 million.
Nulane allegedly transferred millions of rands to several Gupta-owned companies.
The other accused in the case are: Nulane employee Dinesh Patel; former Free State head of rural development, Mbana Peter Thabethe; former head of the provincial agriculture department Limakatso Moorosi; and the department’s former chief financial officer Seipati Sylvia Dhlamini.
They face charges of fraud and money laundering.
The former agriculture department officials are also charged with contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.
All the accused are out on bail.