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Daily Maverick
03-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Transnet extraction — where and how Gupta bribes were paid to Big Four accused
Former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe, CFO Anoj Singh, head of freight rail Siyabonga Gama and chief engineer Thamsanqa Jiyane face charges related to enrichment through corruption. The charge sheet in the largest quantum State Capture case, enrolled by the Independent Directorate Against Corruption (Idac), details a map of where bribes were paid to the four former Transnet executives now facing a quartet of charges related to their role in repurposing the rail utility for extraction worth billions of rands. Former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe, CFO Anoj Singh, head of freight rail Siyabonga Gama and chief engineer Thamsanqa Jiyane face charges related to enrichment through corruption. The four, out on bail of R50,000 each, face charges under four laws, including the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act. Idac alleges that the Gupta brothers, Atul, Rajesh and Ajay, paid the four in cash through deliveries, foreign trips and transactions via Gupta-linked entities and companies. While much of the detail was ventilated in proceedings at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, the charges add new legal heft. The State alleges that cash payments were made at: The Guptas' residence in Saxonwold; The Midrand offices of the family's IT company, Sahara; Salim Essa's Melrose Arch apartment and; The Maslow hotel in Sandton. In addition, Atul Gupta transferred funds from several Gupta-controlled companies, which facilitated the bribes, including Oakbay Investments, Westdawn Investments, VR Laser Services, Confident Concept, Tegeta Exploration and Islandsite Investments. Money flow experts, including Paul Holden of Open Secrets, testified to the commission about how the Guptas utilised layers of companies to launder money and facilitate transfer fees. Singh was enriched to the extent that, the commission heard, he did not spend his Transnet salary, but banked it for years. He was allegedly paid at Saxonwold and took many Gupta-sponsored trips to Dubai, to where the brothers and their families had fled. Molefe allegedly received cash at the Gupta residence and at Sahara Computers, where he would pop in for the family's office lunches. Gama was reportedly paid at the Guptas' Saxonwold residence and family acolyte Salim Essa's Melrose Arch apartment, while Jiyane was allegedly paid at The Maslow hotel. Investigators for the State Capture Commission triangulated travel times. They had witnesses who corroborated many of the payments, and this evidence will be used by Idac when the trial begins. The next court date is 6 October. Money trail The charge sheets detail the following bribe money trail against Singh, Molefe, Gama and Jiyane: Singh 'Between January 2014 and April 2015, Mr Singh had attended meetings at the Gupta Saxonwold residence on at least 10 occasions. [He] would generally take a sports bag with him when he attended the meetings. He would emerge from the residence carrying the sports bag, which would be placed in the boot of the vehicle driven by his Close Protection Officer (CPO). It was later discovered that the sports bags contained large amounts of cash. 'On at least six or seven occasions he would instruct his driver to take him to Knox Vaults, a secure storage facility in Killarney, Johannesburg that provided safe deposit boxes. He would thereafter remove the bag from the boot of the vehicle and enter Knox Vaults carrying the bag.' The charge sheet also details all of Singh's sponsored trips to Dubai. Molefe '[Molefe] would generally take a light brown backpack or sports bag with him when he attended meetings held at these venues. After the said meetings he would emerge carrying the aforementioned bags, which were placed inside the boot of the vehicle driven by his CPO. These CPOs later discovered that the bags contained large amounts of cash.' Gama The charge sheet says that Gama attended many meetings at Saxonwold. 'During November 2016, on one of the visits at the Gupta Saxonwold residence, a person emerged carrying a suitcase, which was placed into the boot of the vehicle, which was driven by his CPO. These CPOs later discovered that the suitcase contained a large amount of cash when Gama left the premises. The charge sheet also details how Gama twice picked up 'parcels' from Essa at Melrose Arch, while Jiyane allegedly took possession of the suitcase, which Gama is alleged to have collected at Saxonwold, at The Maslow hotel, where the two met. The State will argue that all four received unlawful gratification and committed fraud at Transnet, thereby violating the Companies Act and the Public Finance Management Act. The chart below shows Idac's progress on State Capture cases identified by the Zondo Commission. The National Prosecuting Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit, under the leadership of Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba, has recovered R15-billion in State Capture loot, some of which has been returned to Transnet. DM
Daily Maverick
02-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Exclusive: Transnet State Capture Big Four face 32 charges of corruption, fraud and of being delinquent directors
The charge sheet details how contracts were inflated by at least R18-billion, revealing how and where bribes were paid. Fourteen years ago, there was no stopping the Transnet Big Four executives – CEO Brian Molefe, his CFO Anoj Singh, the head of freight rail Siyabonga Gama and chief engineer Thamsanqa Jiyane. As the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture heard, the four were all powerful mandarins of the state corporation. They did not defer to the board, nor Transnet's treasury, nor to its bid adjudication committees, as they rushed through a locomotive acquisition that would ultimately cost South Africa billions of rands in inflated costs and multiple times more in lost opportunities as rail went to the wall. Now the four face 32 charges contained in a charge sheet brought against them by the Independent Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) as it gets to grips with prosecuting the State Capture cases at the rail utility. The charge sheet reveals that the Idac has alleged fraud, corruption and violations of the Public Finance Management Act and the Companies Act against the four, with a trial set to begin in October. Arrested this week, all four are out on bail of R50,000 each and have surrendered their passports. All four pleaded poverty and said they could not afford the original bail request of R200,000 each when they appeared in the Palm Ridge Court on Monday, 30 June. Two, Molefe and Gama, are MPs in former President Jacob Zuma's MK party. The charges brought under a quartet of laws seek to prosecute them from four angles, including dereliction of corporate and constitutional duty (charges under the Public Finance Management Act and the Companies Act) as well as fraud and corruption under the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca). Here are the numbers of charges each faces, comprising variations of contraventions of the four laws. Anoj Singh (13); Molefe (10); Gama (6); and Jiyane (3). The four are accused of acting in concert (using a common purpose prosecution) to defraud Transnet and are alleged to have benefited through bribes detailed in the charge sheet and also ventilated in hearings at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. It all started in 2011, two years after President Jacob Zuma took office, as State Capture extended its claws into the parastatals Eskom, Transnet and Denel. Also involved were their SA acolytes, the businessmen Salim Essa and Iqbal Meer (who chaired Transnet's acquisitions board committee), and the Gupta family that later installed Molefe as CEO and had Singh and Gama in their pockets, the State Capture inquiry heard. The criminal charges against the four traverse the same ground as the Commission, but it has taken time to formulate the package of charges each now faces. Rolling stock bonanza In 2011, Transnet decided to boost rail freight demand by re-kitting its rolling stock. Over the next four years, the four allegedly conspired to favour the Chinese Rail Corporation (CRC), which was then divided into the China South Rail and China North Rail divisions. Essa earned handsome commissions for putting together this deal, the commission heard. Molefe, for example, was found by the commission to have ensured that the company did not have to meet the BEE conditions required of other suppliers. The Transnet whistle-blower, Francis Callard, detailed to the State Capture commission how the Japanese supplier, Mitsui, was elbowed aside in a series of corporate manoeuvres, and he was often kept in the dark. In 2014, Molefe and Singh signed off on contracts without board or government approval, and soon the costs ballooned from an initial R38.6-billion to R54.5-billion. The charge sheet details how, in each tranche of the three-phase transaction, payments exceeded agreed costs by almost R20-billion. The charge sheet details these as follows: in the first 95 locomotive transactions, a payment of R3.4-billion overshot the approved contract value by R231-million. In the 100-locomotive transaction, a payment of R5.18-billion exceeded the approved value by R348-million. In the big-ticket purchase of 1,064 locomotives, Transnet suffered a prejudice (loss) of R18.7-billion. Transnet is also alleged to have lost an additional R368-million in a botched relocation of an assembly line to Durban. Transnet is being steadily repaired by a combination of a new executive team led by CEO Michelle Philips, the Operation Vula team in the Presidency, and the secondment of seasoned rail and logistics executives from business through the B4SA partnership. However, it remains hobbled because many of the trains at the centre of the State Capture case are not operational, resulting in rail volumes that are significantly lower than they should be to transport the freight company to its desired destination. Between 2012 and 2015, the four are alleged to have benefited from cash and benefits from the Gupta family, including trips to Dubai and cash payments from Saxonwold. The family's mansion complex (3, 5, and 7 Saxonwold Drive) is being auctioned through Park Village Auctions on 24 July. Molefe, Singh, and Gama were also arrested in August 2022 in connection with a R93-million payment to Trillian Capital (a Gupta company run by the flamboyant businessman Eric Wood) for one of the locomotive transactions. That case is scheduled to come to court in February 2026, while the proceedings against the Big Four have been postponed to October 2025. DM
Daily Maverick
24-06-2025
- Daily Maverick
‘Respiratory failure' and illness in India — how wanted Gupta brothers have skirted SA enforcement
South Africa has confirmed it is still trying to extradite Gupta brothers Rajesh and Atul and that it is not finished with the UAE in this regard. Daily Maverick, meanwhile, has established they've been in India and issues, including illness, indicate they have wanted to stay put. Wanted Gupta brothers Rajesh and Atul have probably been in India for at least six months, while South Africa has been devising plans to try to get them back into this country for State Capture crimes. Daily Maverick has established their recent – possibly current – location through piecing together court documents lodged over several months last year in India, where the brothers are originally from. The documents show that members of the Gupta family have apparently experienced ill health; this includes Atul, who had swine flu and respiratory issues. These health matters contributed to the brothers wanting to remain in India following a visit to their ageing mother last year. 'Embezzlement and money laundering' Aside from their whereabouts, the documents also refer to concerns about a potentially 'fabricated' letter that a captain in the South African Police Service (SAPS) signed and that says Rajesh and Atul do not have criminal records. It was not clear what exactly the nature of this potential fabrication was – the entire document, the full contents or an aspect of it. The Gupta brothers have disputed the fabrication issue. This week, the national office of the SAPS was unable to respond ahead of publication to Daily Maverick questions about this, sent on Monday, 23 June 2025. We will update this story, should they comment. An Indian court finding from late last year said that based on South Africa's stance, Rajesh and Atul were 'fugitives wanted for prosecution in a case arising in Pretoria, South Africa, relating to certain allegations of embezzlement and money laundering'. Rajesh and Atul have previously, via court documents submitted in India, countered that they were innocent, and that South Africa was unfairly targeting them – effectively because of a change in government. Despite their prominence and the accusations that the brothers face – of corrupting South Africa's Zuma-led government – it is unclear if authorities here have officially located them. If authorities have, they are simply not saying so publicly. 'Busy with extradition processes' In Parliament last week, Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) head Andrea Johnson referred to previous attempts to get the UAE, where the Guptas brothers were once based, to extradite them, or explain why it chose not to do so. 'Twelve note[s] verbales later, we still do not have any response from the UAE about why the extradition failed. Safe to say that they have asked us to resubmit… 'We have now, however, taken a decision to submit new applications with additional matters,' Johnson had said. This week, Daily Maverick asked Idac spokesperson Henry Mamothame if the Gupta brothers' location was known and what it meant if they were not in the UAE, but their extraditions were again requested from there. He replied: 'The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption… is busy with the extradition process but cannot comment on the questions raised.' Daily Maverick sent questions about whether the brothers were still in India and if they intended returning to South Africa, to an advocate, Vivek Sood, listed as representing Rajesh and Atul in India. On Tuesday, 24 June 2025, he said: 'I will not be able to respond… due to client-attorney privileged communication and confidentiality. 'Moreover, I only appeared as a Senior Counsel for a few hearings and am not aware of subsequent events post my appearances in the Delhi High Court.' Questions via WhatsApp and email to another lawyer also listed as representing the Gupta brothers in India were not responded to. SA, US, Dubai, Vanuatu The Guptas have a history with South Africa dating back decades. They arrived in the country in the 1990s and set up shop here. South Africa's political arena shifted over the following years, and in 2016, when Jacob Zuma was president, it was reported that Gupta family members left South Africa. This coincided with the year former public protector Thuli Madonsela released a report titled State of Capture. The report implicated Zuma and the Guptas. A section says: 'This… relates to an investigation into complaints of alleged improper and unethical conduct by the president and other state functionaries relating to alleged improper relationships and involvement of the Gupta family'. In 2019, the saga took on another international angle when the US sanctioned individuals, including Rajesh and Atul. 'Due in large part to their generous donations to a political party and their reportedly close relationship with former South African President Jacob Zuma, their business interests expanded,' a US Treasury statement said at the time. 'The family has been implicated in several corrupt schemes in South Africa, allegedly stealing hundreds of millions of dollars through illegal deals with the South African government, obfuscated by a shadowy network of shell companies and associates linked to the family.' Rajesh and Atul Gupta were arrested in Dubai in the UAE in 2022. The following year, they managed to avoid being extradited from there to South Africa. (This is what South Africa is still trying to iron out with the UAE.) And around that time, it emerged that they had Vanuatu citizenship. Daily Maverick subsequently established that the Gupta brothers wanted to be in India – they turned to the Delhi High Court, which permitted them a two-month stay from around the end of May 2024. Illness in India It had been put to the court that their 77-year-old mother 'is a resident of Saharanpur, Uttarakhand, [and] is suffering from various health problems due to old age'. The brothers had wanted the court 'to suspend the operation' of a Look Out Circular (LOC), which is effectively an alert that India uses to monitor travellers wanted by police. It was argued on their behalf that the LOC could be 'quashed on grounds of applicants being innocent, [and] witch-hunting by the law enforcement agencies in Pretoria, South Africa, against the applicant and his family members due to change in regime in the said country'. They were granted the two-month stay in India. Daily Maverick can now reveal that this was probably extended. Papers filed at the Delhi High Court dated July 2024 show that Atul wanted to stay in India for another two months. And a court order from two months later, September 2024, on which both Atul and Rajesh are listed as petitioners, shows that they wanted the LOC suspended for 'a further' four months, which would have been until around January this year. Lung infection and 'respiratory failure' It said the grounds on which this was sought was that Rajesh's wife was 'diagnosed with Lumbar Disc Disease, Carpel (sic) Tunnel Syndrome and post viral Myalgia'. She was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Gurugram. As for Atul, it said he was 'suffering from severe lung infection and is diagnosed with Viral Fever (H1N1 Positive) with Type 1 Respiratory Failure, Chronic Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis and Type II Diabetes Mellitus'. Their request to remain in India was granted until October 2024, when another court hearing was set. During those proceedings in the Delhi High Court, it was found they could remain in India and that if they wanted to leave, they would have to provide at least one week's notice to authorities there. 'Since the medical documents of the concerned persons have been verified, [Rajesh and Atul Gupta] can continue to stay in India, however, if any investigation request is received along with any provisional arrest request, the same shall be given effect to in accordance with law by the concerned agencies,' the October 2024 finding said. 'If any request for extradition is made, the same shall also proceed in accordance with law.' 'Fabricated document' concern That court finding also touched on the issue of the potentially dodgy document. 'There is also an allegation on behalf of the concerned investigating agency that … a letter issued by the South African Police Service … stating that the Petitioners do not have a criminal record, is a fabricated document,' it said. 'This position is disputed by the Petitioners… 'The Court is of the view that it cannot deal with the said allegation in the present proceedings, since it relates to a certificate issued by the South African Authority, the forgery and fabrication, if any, may be looked into by the appropriate countries' agencies.' This is what the SAPS was unable to respond to Daily Maverick about before publication. Meanwhile, other members of the Gupta family have also found themselves at the centre of legal proceedings in India. Builder's suicide Last year Ajay Gupta – the brother of Rajesh and Atul – and his brother-in-law Anil Gupta were arrested in a case involving a builder who died by suicide. The builder was Satinder Singh Sawhney (also spelled Sahni). Daily Maverick previously reported that court papers in that matter explained the prosecution's case was that Sawhney felt so distressed because of the Guptas that he took his own life. '[Ajay and Anil Gupta] had made the life of the deceased miserable; they had pressured the deceased so that (he) was left with no other option but to end his life,' the papers said. The court papers had also referred to Sawhney's suicide note. A part of that note said: 'In a few days Ajay Gupta created too much pressure on me and my partner… 'Because of his background and his angry behaviour of threatening, we were not able to say anything in front of him as he had a very dangerous past, as he himself told us to check on Google what he has done in South Africa. 'He is a very big fraud. Sir we are too much afraid of both Anil Gupta and Ajay Gupta in this project. Public money is involved. We cannot work with him. I have to prove my innocence, I have not done anything wrong.' It was not immediately clear what had since happened. DM
