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The Citizen
18-06-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
Batohi not worried about Omotoso's deportation as NPA plans to bring Gupta brothers back to SA
She expressed hope that the Nigerian pastor could be returned to South Africa if the NPA's appeal is successful. National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shamila Batohi says the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is committed to bringing back Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso and the Gupta brothers to face justice. Batohi appeared before Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday, where she faced tough questions about the NPA's performance in handling high-profile corruption and criminal cases. ALSO READ: 'There is no state capture in NPA': Ramaphosa to meet Batohi after infiltration claims The failure of the South African government to secure the extradition of Atul and Rajesh Gupta from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continues to cast a shadow over the NPA's efforts to prosecute state capture cases. The NPA has also recently come under intense public scrutiny following the acquittal of Omotoso and his two co-accused in a rape trial that spanned eight years. Gupta brothers' extradition During the meeting, Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) head Andrea Johnson rejected any suggestion that the South African government had mishandled previous efforts to bring the Gupta brothers back to the country to face several charges. She explained that the government has yet to receive a response from the UAE clarifying the reasons for the extradition request being denied. 'When the UAE decided not to extradite the Guptas, we wrote to them; 12 note verbales later, we still don't have any response from the UAE about why the extradition failed. Safe to say that they have asked us to resubmit,' Johnson said. READ MORE: A national embarrassment? 'Scorpions 2.0' bill pitched to save failing NPA 'How do you resubmit when you've submitted a full set of papers that have been properly checked, even by themselves?' 'It does put you in somewhat of a predicament – do you send these papers so that they are a so-called 'failed attempt' again?' Johnson confirmed that a new extradition request would be submitted for the Gupta brothers to the UAE. 'We've taken a decision to submit new applications with additional matters. The country also can't wait while the NPA has to follow legal processes.' 'So, having taken that into account, the public interest, and the interest of justice, we'll submit new applications not just on the Estina and Nulane matters. We're going to apply for extraditions in relation to other state capture matters.' Watch the meeting below: The Gupta brothers, who were arrested in Dubai in 2022, stand accused of playing a central role in state capture during former president Jacob Zuma's tenure. One of the key cases in which they are implicated is the Nulane Investment fraud case and Vrede Dairy Farm matter. Batohi explains NPA's appeal on Omotoso Later in the meeting, Batohi told the committee that while the NPA is appealing Omotoso's acquittal, the process could take years. She also downplayed public concern following Omotoso's deportation last month. The NDPP explained that if the televangelist had remained in South Africa as a free man, it could have further distressed his victims, who have already expressed their disappointment with the outcome of the trial. 'The fact that he has had to flee from South Africa means he has not been able to live his life the way that he would like to.' READ MORE: Batohi explains why NPA did not investigate prosecutors in 2021 Omotoso trial Batohi expressed hope that Omotoso could be returned to face justice if the appeal is successful. 'Nigeria is a country that we do have an extradition treaty with, and they are also multi-lateral treaties that we can draw on to hopefully bring him back when we do.' 'We have been successful with many extradition applications across the world. The UAE is the one that sticks out, and we have had challenges with that.' She added that the NPA would await the outcome of the appeal process. Batohi defended the institution, urging the public 'not to lose faith' in the country's prosecutorial system amid growing criticism of the NPA's handling of high-profile cases – the corruption case involving former Cabinet minister Zizi Kodwa.
Mail & Guardian
13-06-2025
- Mail & Guardian
National Prosecuting Authority preparing to reinstate charges against Nulane accused
State capture: Ajay Gupta, Atul and Rajesh. (Adrian de Kock/Netwerk24) The 'We are tirelessly working towards that,' said NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga . On Thursday, the NPA prevailed in the supreme court of appeal (SCA), which found that Judge It said what transpired in the high court could only be summed up as a 'failure of justice'. The SCA ruling came almost two years after Gusha That decision meant that none of them had to take the stand to answer the case put forth by the state. Gusha found that the prosecution had 'regrettably failed to pass even the barest of thresholds' in proving that the accused colluded to defraud the Free State government and ensure some R24 million was funnelled to a United Arab Emirates (UAE) Standard Chartered Bank account linked to the Gupta family. Gupta associate Iqbal Sharma was arrested in 2021, nearly a decade after Free State officials deviated from public finance rules to awarded a contract worth R24.9 million for a feasibility study to his newly-founded Nulane Investments. It pinpointed Paras, an Indian firm linked to the Guptas, as the preferred entity to a dairy project in Vrede in the Free State. This would later become the Estina dairy farm scam in which more than R280 million allegedly flowed to the Gupta family. But Gusha, an acting judge, found that the prosecution was unable to prove that provincial officials broke the law when they gave the contract to Nulane. It meant that the case collapsed at the first hurdle, because without proof that the money was stolen, the state could not sustain the charge of money-laundering in relation to the rapid-fire transfers that followed to companies in the Gupta stable. The SCA agreed with the state that Gusha made a litany of errors in law and fact, resulting in a failure of justice. She had been obliged to consider the totality of evidence, and had failed to do so. 'The inference is inescapable — and the judgment itself shows — that the judge had closed her mind to the evidence adduced by the state. 'This is unfortunate, particularly in a case such as this, where it was prima facie established that scarce public funds were unlawfully extracted from the department and channelled to the UAE, by fraud and the misuse of power.' Hence, the appellate court said, the acquittal of the accused was unfair to the prosecution. The prosecution had relied on the doctrine of common purpose to prove that all accused were part of a conspiracy to defraud the government, as were Atul and Rajesh Gupta. It had planned to add them to the list of accused if they were surrendered to South Africa. The SCA said there was evidence that three Free State officials worked together to ensure Nulane was appointed and paid and, further, that fraud and money-laudering was committed with the cooperation of the rest of the accused, among them Ronica Ragavan, the director of the Gupta family's Islandsite Investment. That was one of the companies in the family's business empire through which the state allegedly the money extracted from the Free State was laundered with 'bewildering rapidity'. There was a real likelihood, the SCA said, that the accused would have incriminated each other, had they been put on the stand. 'The high court misapplied s174 of the CPA [Criminal Prosecution Act]: a court should not discharge an accused who might be incriminated by a co-accused. This was unfair to the state,' the court said. 'The trial in the high court can be summed up in a single sentence: This was a failure of justice.' It added that regrettably this undermined public confidence in the criminal justice system. The SCA ruling provided some comfort for the NPA a week after the Bloemfontein high court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to try Ace Magashule's former assistant, Moroadi Cholota, for her role in the R225 million Free State asbestos scam case. The court found that her extradition from the United States was unlawful as the NPA had failed to challenge an SCA ruling that only the minister of justice, and not the prosecuting authority, had the power to apply for extradition, in due time. The NPA is seeking to overturn this ruling as well.
