Africa-Press – South-Africa. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is obliged to charge the Guptas with money laundering, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola told the National Assembly on Tuesday.
He was participating in an “urgent” debate on South Africa’s failed bid to extradite brothers Rajesh and Atul Gupta from the UAE almost two months after South African authorities learned that its application failed.
The Guptas’ extradition hearing was heard in an Emirati court in February, where South Africa’s extradition application was turned down, but South African authorities only caught wind of these developments in April and, days later, on 11 April, GOOD MP Brett Herron submitted his request to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula for the debate.
The complete lack of urgency with which his “urgent” debate was treated, wasn’t lost on Herron.
He said the matter had been discussed thoroughly in South Africa, while those elected to hold the government to account – MPs – had to twiddle their thumbs.
He said a lack of urgency had become a defining characteristic of the government.
Herron said it is believed that a cancelled warrant of arrest was submitted in the extradition request, which was “a failure of meticulousness, betraying a deeper lack of urgency”.
He referred to the Zondo Report, which laid bare state capture.
“The Gupta brothers, rightly or wrongly, became the poster boys of alleged state capture,” he said.
“For South Africans to believe in the R1 billion investment in the Zondo Commission, is inextricably linked to their prosecutions.”
Other opposition MPs were also less than flattering of the government’s handling of the extradition application, but Lamola stuck to his guns that the South African government has done everything it should have, as he has done ever since the news broke that Guptas are once again on the lam.
He described the criticism as “cheap political scoring” by MPs who “want to blind South Africans to not seeing everything South Africa has done” to extradite the Guptas.
He said the Emirati law is a “unique amalgamation” of Islamic Sharia law and civil laws from Egypt and France.
“It’s not like our courts, it’s not an open court system. It happened, and we were informed on the date that we informed South Africans.”
He said there were no “foolish mistakes” by the South African government.
“Neither did we bungle this extradition request,” he said.
“A case of extradition cannot be denied on … a mere technicality. This is not Lamola speaking; it is the United Nations Convention against Corruption because the United Nations understands that countries try to hide behind a technicality to deny an extradition request.
“Before we submitted the extradition request, there was cooperation between the two central authorities, including the prosecuting authorities of both countries. And the UAE authorities confirmed and certified that the documents that we have submitted in the UAE are in compliance with the extradition agreement.”
The minister said the Emirati prosecuting authority submitted the application on behalf of South Africa to their courts.
“Where is the incompetency of the South African government?”
He said it is standard practice to ask for missing documents from a country that submitted an extradition request.
Lamola said: “You don’t shock the requesting state with the outcome of the court!”
He added that in terms of the bilateral extradition agreement, the UAE is obliged to charge the Guptas with money laundering as their courts have said they have the competency to do so.
Lamola said:
He reiterated that South Africa provided all the paperwork that was required of them, including a valid arrest warrant.
During his speech, Lamola was interrupted by recently sworn-in EFF MP Mzwanele Manyi, also the spokesperson for the JG Zuma Foundation, who raised a spurious point of order.
“I won’t be surprised when Honourable Manyi catch [sic] feelings when we debate the Guptas. Ja, it’s public knowledge,” said Lamola.
The party Manyi now represents in Parliament called him a Gupta “stooge” in 2017.
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