THE Pretoria Regional Court yesterday morning granted R10 000 bail to two Gupta associates implicated in a R37.7 million fraud racket.
Kamal Vasram and Saliesh Indurjeeth, both linked to the failed Estina Dairy Farm project, were nabbed on Monday night.
Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority Investigating Directorate Sindisiwe Seboka said the pair will appear in court against on February 11.
“They face charges of fraud, Contravention of Section 54(1)(A) of the International Trade Administration Act and Contravention of Regulation 22 of the Exchange Control Act," she said.
Seboka said one of the suspects was the sole director of Estina during the commission of the alleged offences.
She said the arrest follows an investigation by Sars and the NPA ID into the affairs of the Estina Dairy Project.
“The investigation established that Estina submitted customs clearance documents in support of a VAT refund claim. The customs declaration was then scrutinised and placed under the proverbial magnifying glass, whereupon the declared value of over R37.7 million for a so-called ’new’ pasteurisation plant was suspected to be excessively high,” she said.
According to the NPA ID, the suspected overpriced pasteurising plant, which was imported from India, was rather invoiced to Estina by Gateway Limited in the United Arab Emirates.
“Evidence that is already in the public domain suggests that Gateway was used and controlled by the Guptas as a conduit to launder money and to extract funds from South Africa.
“This observation led to a joint investigation between Sars and the ID in the spirit of co-operative governance and collaboration, as provided for in terms of section 41 of the Constitution of South Africa,” Seboka said.
The State further alleges that the overstated or inflated value was intentionally and unlawfully used by Estina and its sole director to launder funds from South Africa to the prejudice of the taxpaying public in general.
Commissioner for Sars Edward Kieswetter and ID director advocate Hermione Cronje, expressed their satisfaction with the inroads made into this state capture investigation.
IOL