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Gupta ally freed on R10 000 bail

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER

DINESH Patel, an ally of the Gupta family, suspected of being at the centre of state capture in South Africa, has appeared in court and was granted bail of R10 000.

Patel, a 5th accused, joined his brother-in-law Iqbal Sharma and 15 other accused in facing charges of fraud, money laundering in connection to the R25-million feasibility study that was to be conducted on the Estina Dairy Farm in Vrede, in the Free State.

According to the charge sheet, Patel’s company, Nulane Investments, received the R25-million from the Free State government and because it had no capacity to deliver on the project, sub-contracted the job to Deloitte for R1.5-million and pocketed the rest. According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the only change Nulane made to the Deloitte report was to identify Paras Dairy as a suitable implementing partner for the development of a milk processing plant in Vrede.

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Patel appeared in court after he handed himself over to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)’s Investigations Directorate.  

He is charged along with Sharma, Peter Thabethe, the former head of the Department of Rural Development in the Free State, Limakatso Moorosi, also former head of the same department and Seipati Dlamini, former chief finacial officer in the department. Also charged are three companies, Nulane Investments, Wone management, Pragat Investment and Islandsite Investments. 

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Sharma is awaiting his trial in prison. He was denied bail after Magistrate Estelle de Lange ruled that it was in the interest of justice that he should remain in jail.

De Lange said if convicted, Sharma, a first time offender, faced a 15 year jail sentence for one of the charges he faces.

Ahead of the Magistrate’s verdict, State prosecutor Peter Serunya argued that Sharma would not stand trial if released on bail.

Serunya argued that Sharma is a flight risk.

He said Sharma had failed to disclose to the court an account with R264-million in a bank account in Dubai, which he argued was enough to last him a lifetime.  The account is in the name of Issa Global, a company owned by Sharma.

“He has misled you. He has hidden his assets from you. He didn’t tell you about the R264-million which he is hiding. He won’t worry about the R25-million house which has been seized because what he has in the outside countries can last him a lifetime,” he said.

He listed 28 countries in Africa, Asia, US and Europe that Sharma has frequented. “He has made a lot of connections with many countries. If he skips bail, where will we find him,” he argued.

Patel and all the accused are expected back in court on July 05, when the matter is expected to be transferred to the Bloemfontein High Court.

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South Africa has placed the Gupta Brothers on Interpol’s red list and has started the process to extradite them from Dubai, where they are based.

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By The African Mirror

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