Cape Town – Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola has reportedly said that there was no basis for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to dismiss South Africa’s request to extradite the Guptas.
“Our view remains that we’ve complied with all the requirements of the extradition treaty between South Africa and the UAE and in this regard there was no basis for dismissing our application,” EWN quoted Lamola as saying in Parliament on Tuesday where he was giving an overview of his department’s annual performance plan and budget.
South Africa was left in shock and dismay in April after the UAE turned down its request to extradite two Gupta brothers accused of orchestrating industrial-scale corruption.
Lamola said the government was notified on 13 February of a Dubai court decision not to allow for the extradition of business tycoons Atul and Rajesh Gupta.
ALSO READ | SA in ‘shock and dismay’ as UAE rejects extradition of Gupta brothers
“We learnt with shock and dismay that the extradition hearing had been concluded in the Dubai Court on the 13 February 2023 and our extradition request was unsuccessful,” Lamola said at the time.
The Guptas are alleged to have colluded with former president Jacob Zuma to siphon off state assets from South Africa, the continent’s most advanced economy.
South Africa filed the extradition request in July last year after the two were arrested in Dubai a month earlier.
The arrests followed the inking of an extradition treaty between Pretoria and the UAE.
Lamola said that South Africans were being deprived of justice, reported eNCA. He said that he was “bemused” by the judgment that cited technicalities after all of the effort put in by the Justice and Correctional Services Department.
“We will still bring the Guptas back to South Africa. It might take some time, but we are not going to stop all the processes that we have said are going to unfold to ensure that they are brought back to South Africa,” Lamola said.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
