U.S. Imposes Sanctions On South Africa’s Gupta Brothers
The U.S. Treasury has announced sanctions for alleged corruption against three members of the Gupta family — wealthy friends of former South African President Jacob Zuma — and their business associate.
The Guptas fled South Africa and now live in the United Arab Emirates after Zuma was removed as president in 2017 and President Cyril Ramaphosa was voted in.
U.S. sanctions are focused on brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta, and South African businessman Salim Essa, who are accused of using their friendship with Zuma to profit financially and influence senior government appointments, according to the Financial Times.
The Guptas deny any wrongdoing, but their relationship with Zuma is the subject of a South African judicial inquiry into state corruption.
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Sanctions against the Gupta brothers
The sanctions are aimed at prohibiting the Guptas and Essa from conducting any business in the U.S. or with U.S. companies globally, according to BBC.
“The Guptas and Essa have used their influence with prominent politicians and parties to line their pockets with ill-gotten gains,” Sigal Mandelker, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, was quoted as saying in a statement.
She added that the Gupta family leveraged its political connections to engage in widespread corruption and bribery, capture government contracts, and misappropriate state assets.
The U.S. Treasury’s decision to impose the sanctions came after South African law enforcement agencies issued a mutual legal assistance request on the matter to the U.S.
South Africa’s minister of justice and correctional services, Ronald Lamola, explained that South Africa and the U.S. are state parties to the U.N. Convention against Corruption and have a bilateral treaty in place, according to News24.
“These international multilateral and bilateral frameworks allow law enforcement agencies of both countries to collaborate on matters of common interest like fighting corruption and ensuring that perpetrators of corruption have nowhere to hide,” said Lamola.