Advocate Shamila Batohi, the National Director of Public Prosecutions of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), disclosed ongoing struggles faced by the South African government in its attempts to extradite Atul and Rajesh Gupta.
The Gupta brothers, who are wanted in South Africa on charges including fraud and money laundering linked to State Capture, are currently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Despite having filed an extradition request with the UAE, South African authorities hit a roadblock in April last year when their request was rejected. Advocate Batohi expressed frustration over the lack of feedback from the UAE regarding the rejection. “We have been trying very hard to find out some very basic things like what exactly is the problem with our extradition request. We’ve not had satisfactory responses from the UAE,” she lamented.
Efforts to better understand the UAE’s stance through direct communication have also been thwarted. “We’ve been trying to…set up a meeting with the national director and the head of the prosecuting authority in the UAE in order for us to understand this. We’ve not been able to schedule that meeting for months,” Batohi added.
In response to these challenges, the NPA sought higher-level intervention, informing Deputy President Paul Mashatile of the situation ahead of his trip to the UAE. Advocate Batohi emphasized the strategic move to involve the presidency in hopes of garnering support from the highest echelons of UAE’s leadership. “We’ve decided, as the NPA, that we needed the President of this country to intervene with the ruler of the UAE because we realised that unless there isn’t that strong political push in the UAE, we’re going to struggle with this matter,” she stated.
The aim is to achieve mutual legal assistance through political will, a measure Batohi believes is crucial for the extradition process to progress. She harbors hopes that the Deputy President’s engagement with UAE officials will underscore the importance of the matter to South Africa and secure a commitment to support South Africa’s extradition requests.
Adding to this complex scenario, the Department of Justice and Correctional Services announced in September 2023 that a new extradition request needs to be submitted. This development came after the initial request was deemed “inconsistent with article 17 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption,” a treaty both countries are signatories to. This signifies a potentially lengthy and bureaucratic process ahead as South Africa continues its efforts to bring the Gupta brothers to justice.
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