Guptas will account for their sins and crimes, vows Lamola
Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola has once again moved to reassure South Africans that the government is doing everything possible to extradite the Gupta brothers.
Lamola responded to a parliamentary debate on Tuesday where opposition MPs slammed his department for failing to extradite Rajesh and Atul Gupta from the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
The debate was sponsored by GOOD MP Brett Herron, who criticised Lamola and the government for what the party believes to be a lack of urgency in dealing with the matter.
The bid to extradite the Gupta brothers back to South Africa to face charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering was foiled earlier this year when a UAE court denied the request based on a technicality.
Lamola told MPs that no South African diplomat or government representative were aware of the court proceedings.
"It happened and we were informed on the date that we informed South Africans and we wasted no time. We informed South Africans in real-time when we received the note verbale,” said Lamola.
He said it was not true that the National Prosecuting Authority botched the paperwork related to the extradition request.
“There are no foolish administrative or legal mistakes from the South African government, neither did we bungle this extradition request. The UAE authorities confirmed and certified that the documents that we have submitted in the UAE are in compliance with the extradition agreement.
“The processes and documents were therefore submitted by the prosecuting authority of the UAE in the courts of the UAE on behalf of the South African government,” added Lamola.
The two countries recently agreed to set up a joint task team of prosecutors to assist in the extradition process.
The decision was taken at a meeting between Lamola and his UAE counterpart Abdullah Sultan bin Awad Al Nuaimi.
“We are calling for calm,” Lamola concluded.
“As the government of this country, we will ensure that the Guptas come back to South Africa to account for their sins and for their crimes. There will be accountability. It may take time because of the protracted nature of extradition but it will happen. They will one day face accountability in the courts of our country.”
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