The tracking of prominent politicians and businesspeople, along with the sourcing of sensitive information from well-placed moles in key state entities, appear to show that the Gupta business network operated like a fully-fledged spy agency.

Malema, Manuel flight details

Buried among the thousands of emails and documents that make up the #GuptaLeaks is an Excel spreadsheet that wouldn’t necessarily draw attention in a sea of files with far more interesting names.

Document “As1.xlsx” sounds like a dull affair compared to those bearing titles such as “Zwane questoins” (sic), “Bribery Culture of India”, or “Right now WET!!”.

But the file’s contents reveal a disturbing reality – Ashu Chawla, one of the Guptas’ most trusted lieutenants, had been privy to the dates of international flights taken by some of the Guptas’ most prominent adversaries, including EFF leader Julius Malema and former finance minister Trevor Manuel.

The document also features the international flight details and ID numbers of Absa CEO Maria Ramos and those of a handful of so-called “white monopoly capital” business leaders.

FirstRand Group chairperson Laurie Dippenaar and the banking group’s co-founder GT Ferreira are among the “WMC” businessmen whose travel details are captured in the file.

Malema this week confirmed to News24 that the ID number listed in the document alongside the initial “JM” is his and that he had flown out of and back to South Africa on the six occasions in 2015 listed in the spreadsheet.

The EFF leader claims that the information could only have come from the department of home affairs (DHA) or from the State Security Agency (SSA). Malema vowed to take up the matter with the office of the Inspector General of Intelligence (IGI).

Dippenaar, Manuel and Ramos also confirmed the authenticity of their ID numbers and the flight dates listed under their names.

“It is deeply concerning to us that this private information appears to have been collected and stored by a third party for reasons unknown to us. This is an egregious breach of privacy and amounts to criminal conduct,” Manuel and Ramos said in a joint statement.

“We are considering the legal options available to us,” the couple added.

The #GuptaLeaks has thus far offered no further clues as to how Chawla – who according to the file’s metadata was the original creator of the Excel document – got hold of the travel information.

But the trove of documents contains plenty of unrelated material that proves the Guptas and their henchmen have been fed sensitive government information by an array of individuals in the public sector, including confidential SSA documents.

* Read the emails here.

Moles in home affairs

Towards the end of November 2015, department of home affairs (DHA) employee Gonasgaren “Sagie” Mudley emailed his resume directly to Tony Gupta.

This marked the start of a chain of communication that would see Mudley’s CV being forwarded by Chawla to none other than Thamsanqa Msomi, a Denel board member and then DHA minister Malusi Gigaba’s adviser.

“Kindly find attached a copy of my Resume and note that I have just been vetted by SSA for Top Security Clearance and awaiting evaluation. If you require any further information and clarity please don’t hesitate to call me,” Mudley wrote Gupta.

According to the email, the DHA employee was an assistant director at the department’s immigration inspectorate in Cape Town. His earlier positions, as listed in his CV, make for interesting reading.

From 1989 to 2000, Mudley was a member of the South African Police Services’ (SAPS) narcotics bureau in Durban, where he maintained “strong networks and liaison with intelligence agencies,” according to his resume.

He then had a stint as a SAPS representative at South Africa’s embassy in Namibia, where he was involved in the “management of crime intelligence information emanating from foreign agencies”, before he became the commander of the police’s crime intelligence unit in Bellville, Cape Town.

In his latter position, Mudley played a role in the “coordination of all overt & covert special projects & operations,” he claimed in his CV.

In January 2016, the SSA gave Mudley a top secret security clearance, the highest possible security clearance in South Africa. He wasted no time in forwarding the clearance, which in itself is a confidential SSA document, to Tony Gupta.

“Dear sir. Please find attached security clearance,” Mudley wrote to Gupta.

Gareth Newham, a governance expert at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), says the mere fact that Mudley forwarded his top secret clearance to Gupta constitutes a criminal offence.

“It is against the law to forward a confidential SSA document to someone who does not have a security clearance,” says Newham.

Even more concerning is the fact that Mudley, with his brand new top secret clearance, would theoretically have had access to highly sensitive government information that could have benefitted the Guptas.

“A top secret clearance would give one access to a range of sensitive information pertaining to government planning, including procurement planning. Mudley could therefore have gotten access to the records of top secret or confidential discussions around things like the proposed nuclear build program or the procurement of new locomotives,” says Newham.

In February 2016, Mudley forwarded what appears to be a cellphone picture of a DHA document titled “Criteria for Prioritisation of Vacant Posts” to Tony Gupta.

“Please find attached new financial instructions for Dha staff also might have negative implications on foreign posts. This meeting is taking place at this moment,” Mudley told Gupta in the email.

It was just before this exchange, in January, that Chawla forwarded Mudley’s CV to Msomi, adviser to then DHA minister Malusi Gigaba.

What the Guptas and Chawla intended to do with Mudley’s CV, and why Chawla later forwarded it to Msomi, remains unclear.

Gupta associate Chawla also maintained communications with another DHA official, one Gideon Christians, over a period of at least two years, the #GuptaLeaks show.

According to Christians’ CV, which he sent to Chawla in November 2014, the DHA official was the department’s assistant director for immigration services at the Cape Town International airport.

In October 2015, Christians forwarded Chawla a string of emails detailing a spat involving several other DHA officials over Christians’ would-be transfer to the South African high commission in India.

“Bhiysa [brother]. Someone sent this to me unofficially . . . seems there is a fight with HR and FOC [foreign office coordination] to issue the [transfer] letter to me,” Christians wrote Chawla.

Apart from keeping the Gupta associate up to date on his pending transfer, Christians also gifted Chawla with a particularly chunky piece of government intelligence in the form of an Excel spreadsheet.

The document, titled “Foreign Missions Budget 2014-2015 edited”, details the names of 51 South African officials posted to diplomatic missions in countries such as Angola, India, China and the United Kingdom.

Apart from the officials’ names and personnel numbers, the document also provides a detailed breakdown of each official’s salary, their child and education allowances, and what their annual rental costs amount to.

Again, the #GuptaLeaks offers no further clues as to what the Guptas would have wanted to do with this document.

But the website of the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco) suggests that Christians did end up being transferred to India. According to the website, a GC Christians is currently the first secretary for immigration and civic affairs at the South African high commission in New Delhi.

Agents Koloane and Koko

The Guptas and their associates’ interactions with the DHA officials brings to mind the manner in which the likes of former Dirco official Bruce Koloane and former Eskom executive Matshela Koko were covertly doing the Guptas’ bidding.

An earlier #GupteLeaks report detailed how Koko, or at least someone using his name in their Yahoo account, forwarded a confidential correspondence between Eskom and one of the Guptas’ rival mining outfits to two unidentified email addresses. The confidential Eskom document ended up being forwarded to Chawla.

Emails and documents in the #GuptaLeaks show how Koloane forwarded information on the Waterkloof Air Force Base to Chawla, in the run-up to the highly publicized Gupta wedding at Sun City in 2013.

Christians and Mudley did not respond to request for comment via WhatsApp.

The Guptas’ lawyer, Gert van der Merwe, referred News24 to Oakbay Investments, Gary Naidoo and Ronica Ragivan. None of them responded to our queries.

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The #GuptaLeaks show:

• The Guptas tried to sell Denel’s intellectual property to India, while watering the state arms company’s stake down by half.
• Acting as middlemen, they took the biggest stake for themselves and cut in a powerful Indian tycoon – close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi – for his “influence”.
• They primed, wined and dined Denel’s then new chairman, Dan Mantsha, who sent them confidential government documents.
  

The Gupta family set themselves up to sell state arms manufacturer Denel’s weapons to India in a deal involving a shady Indian fixer and a powerful tycoon close to prime minister Narendra Modi.

The Guptas arranged to sideline Denel and take the biggest share for themselves even though it was Denel’s proprietary technology that was to be sold.

These details are revealed in the #GuptaLeaks, a trove of electronic data sourced from the heart of the Guptas’ business empire.

In January 2016, Denel announced the formation of Denel Asia, a Hong Kong-based joint venture that it controlled, holding 51%. The rest belonged to a company registered to Gupta lieutenant Salim Essa.

Defending themselves against criticism at the time, Denel and the Guptas claimed that the Gupta family had no interest in the Essa company, VR Laser Asia, and by implication in Denel Asia.

The #GuptaLeaks show they were misleading South Africans. Emails in the trove show Denel officials knew the overriding purpose of setting up Denel Asia was to sell arms to India – targeting more than US$8-billion in deals there – via a second joint venture called Denel India.

In Denel India, Denel’s participation was watered down to just 25%. The Guptas, who brought little to the table besides their political connectivity in South Africa and India, planned to wield a controlling 42% stake – exercised via Essa and their brother-in-law, Anil Gupta.

Anil, a former minister in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, is married to Achla, the Gupta brothers’ sister. The controversial Gupta wedding at Sun City celebrated the marriage of Anil and Achla’s daughter, Vega.

The files contain emails and draft contracts that show that as Denel Asia was being established in Hong Kong, the Guptas were putting together a second-tier company in India called Denel India, in which their Indian brother-in-law would hold a significant stake.

• Read the Denel #GuptaLeaks ​here.

They also show the Guptas had a direct involvement in the establishment of Denel Asia, suggesting Essa was little more than their proxy.

Denel India was to be owned by Denel (25%) and Essa (24%) via Denel Asia, as well as Anil Gupta (18%) and the Indian multinational Adani Enterprises (33%).

Thus, Denel’s participation was to be diluted significantly – and the emails show Denel executives were well aware the company would enjoy only a minority stake in the Indian venture.

Adani was key to the plan, the emails suggest.

Its billionaire founder and chairman, Gautam Adani, is often reported to be close to Modi, the prime minister.

Much like the Guptas and President Jacob Zuma in South Africa, commentators link the rise of Adani’s business empire to the political rise of Modi, starting in the early 2000s when Adani supported Modi when he was politically weak.

In one 2016 email, the CEO of the Gupta-owned VR Laser in South Africa, Pieter van der Merwe, objected to a draft contract in which Adani suggested it use nominee shareholders.

Van der Merwe made Adani’s role clear: “We are entering into an agreement with [Adani] as a result of their name, history and connections. If it means they are going to appoint an affiliate who doesn’t have any know-how or influence, we do not need a partnership.”

Companies in the Adani group have been accused by Indian authorities of money laundering and tax avoidance to the tune of about US$750-million.

Adani did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

But it was another controversial Indian businessman who appeared to introduce the Guptas to Adani: Kolkata businessman Parasmal Lodha.

Indian authorities recently arrested Lodha for money laundering. He was released on bail last week. Lodha is very close to the Guptas, the #Guptaleaks show.

They attend each other’s family weddings and holidays and a senior Gupta manager once used contacts in the department of home affairs to arrange a South African visa for Lodha.

It was Lodha who in 2013 emailed Tony Gupta, asking him to invite Gautam Adani, among “a few friends”, to another Gupta wedding, this time of Anil Gupta’s son.

In 2015, as the Guptas were assembling their partnership with Denel and Adani, Lodha reviewed an Adani Enterprises contract within the Denel India structure and emailed comments to Tony Gupta.

Around the same time, Lodha twice helped to arrange for Gautam Adani to visit South Africa. Lodha did not respond to questions.

The involvement of tainted figures such as Lodha and politically exposed persons such as Adani – along with Essa and the Gupta family – suggest Denel was willing to pursue a recklessly high-risk strategy.

Denel was previously blacklisted from selling arms to India because it had used commissioned agents, a banned practice there.

However, the Denel Asia and Denel India structures circumvented this by including the Guptas – effectively Denel’s agents – within the company structures.

After amaBhungane first wrote about Denel Asia in early 2016, the national treasury confirmed that it viewed the partnership to be illegal.

It said it had not approved the deal under the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). Denel publicly disagreed and is now suing treasury and the finance minister.

In a court affidavit, former treasury head Lungisa Fuzile said that in its PFMA application, Denel “discusses two potential partners in India: Adani Group and PIPAVAV, both of which are leading Indian conglomerates expanding into the defence industry. It is not clear why these companies were overlooked by [Denel] in their review of the market and what led [Denel] to the conclusion that VR Laser Asia was the most suitable partner.”

The implication seems to be that he too was concerned that the Guptas were simply inserted as agents – although it was via taking a stake in a Denel subsidiary, rather than receiving a fee.

A Denel spokesperson said: “We have been advised that the Hawks are carrying out an investigation on the matters pertaining to the #GuptaLeaks emails. We would rather give space to the Hawks to undertake their investigations on all these matters fully before making any comments.”

Gupta lawyer and regular spokesperson Gert van der Merwe has refused to comment on #GuptaLeaks claims, saying: “I have no documents or context or instructions. It is inappropriate.”

The #Guptaleaks suggest the Guptas pursued an intricate plan to push their Denel project through, involving inside information and the positioning of sympathetic decision-makers, including four-day finance minister Des van Rooyen.

They contain a number of email threads in which intricate details of the Denel Asia joint-venture are discussed between October 2015 and February 2016. Inevitably, these lines of correspondence ended up on Tony Gupta’s or Gupta managers’ desks.

For example, the PFMA required Denel to get permission from the ministers of public enterprises and finance before it can strike up a public-private partnership like Denel Asia, which consisted of state-owned Denel on the one hand, and privately owned VR Laser on the other.

One day after Denel submitted its PFMA application to treasury on 30 October 2015, Denel chairman Dan Mantsha forwarded the confidential document to Ashu Chawla, a senior Gupta executive.

The #GuptaLeaks have already exposed how the Guptas hosted Mantsha on lavish trips to Dubai.

But the timing of his meetings and communications with the family and their factotums adds to the impression he was their cats-paw.

On 24 July 2015, Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown announced sweeping changes to Denel’s non-executive board, leaving only Gupta beneficiary Nkopane “Sparks” Motseki in place and removing experienced directors in favour of relative unknowns.

Key among them was Mantsha, appointed as the new chair of Denel, despite that fact he was struck off as an attorney in 2007 and only re-admitted in 2011.

Just days after his appointment, on 3 August, Mantsha forwarded a copy of his outstanding municipal account for R14,238 to Gupta lieutenant Ashu Chawla.

The same account was again forwarded to Mr. Chawla in October. Both were marked “for your urgent attention.”

By 5 August the emails show Mantsha was listed to join Tony Gupta and others on a flight from Johannesburg to Mumbai aboard the Guptas’ private jet ZS-OAK.

It is not clear if he was aboard, but he was booked a room with the family at the ITC hotel in Mumbai for 6 and 7 August and he was listed as a passenger for the subsequent Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Johannesburg legs. A few weeks after his return from this jaunt, the new Denel board moved against the existing Denel executive.

On 24 September, the board suspended chief executive Riaz Saloojee, financial director Fikile Mkhontlo, and company secretary Elizabeth Africa. (Since then their supposed disciplinary infractions have all melted away and they have been paid severance packages.)

By 29 September, Chawla was handling the application for a Dubai visa for Mantsha and by the next day the Guptas’ travel agent had booked a business class ticket from Dubai to Johannesburg for him, invoiced to a Gupta company for R33,280.

Mantsha failed to respond to detailed questions about his relationship with the Guptas. But Mantsha was also not the only source the Guptas had providing top-level intelligence on the Denel project.

On 23 November, Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown provisionally approved Denel’s negotiations with VR Laser Asia to form Denel Asia. One day later, the emails show, Chawla had a copy of her approval.

A few days later, Denel chairman Mantsha sent the same confidential document to Chawla.

To its PFMA application to Minister Brown, Denel attached a spreadsheet of “opportunities that Denel feels confident will be secured jointly with VR Laser Asia”.

This detailed US$9.3-billion worth of potential weapons deals in the region. Of this, US$8.2-billion would be sourced from India. From November 26 to 29, the Guptas’ chosen Indian partner, Adani, was their guest in South Africa.

Mumbai fixer Lodha was instrumental in the arrangements and the emails show his assistant wrote to an Adani staffer noting: “Meeting with the [South African] President, Ministers and CEOs of mining, power and port has been arrange (sic) on 27th and 28th… Car and necessary security will be arrange (sic) by Mr Gupta.”

By this time the Guptas were already shopping for a new finance minister, according to evidence provided to the public protector, and it seems they wanted the Denel Asia joint venture PFMA application to be on his desk when he landed.

Although Brown at public enterprises had given provisional approval, the law required the finance minister to approve the joint venture too.

The #Guptaleaks show that on 7 December, Chawla emailed a copy of Brown’s in-principle approval and briefing document directly to the finance minister’s personal assistant.

On that day, the minister was still Nhlanhla Nene, but three days later, on 10 December, it was Des van Rooyen.

The very next day Denel submitted its formal PFMA application for Denel Asia to the new finance minister, according to an affidavit delivered in the high court dispute between Denel and treasury over the establishment of the Hong Kong joint venture.

Van Rooyen was removed on 13 December before he could approve Denel Asia – and the status of the joint venture has been in dispute ever since. That didn’t stop the Guptas from trying to forge ahead.

After Van Rooyen’s sacking, Mantsha joined a procession of influential figures in a pilgrimage to the Oberoi hotel in Dubai and an audience with the Guptas at their new R325-million pad.

Invoices from the #Guptaleaks show he stayed at the Oberoi between 3 and 6 January 2016 at the expense of the Guptas’ Sahara Computers and was chauffeured to their home at L35 Emirates Hills.

Mantsha failed to respond to questions about the purpose of the visit, but presumably it was to regroup.

During this time VR Laser SA chief executive Van der Merwe, Tony Gupta and others continued to exchange thoughts on draft contracts with Adani Enterprises, the emails show.

In one instance, Van der Merwe forwarded to Tony Gupta a chain of correspondence between himself and Denel officials in which they debated whether or not Denel India, the Denel Asia joint venture with Adani, was separately subject to the PFMA.

He said Denel and VR Laser had previously agreed that when Denel applied to the ministers of finance and public enterprises for consent, their planned new Indian company should be disclosed so “as to play open cards with what the parties intend to do”.

And to Tony Gupta, Van der Merwe complained: “They are missing the point and the reason why we entered into this transaction. In the private sector, time is of the essence. This is the basis on which we have decided to invest in a funding facility.”

In a February 2016 email to colleagues – after they received questions from amaBhungane – VR Laser CEO Van der Merwe explained that the SA VR Laser was going to loan Denel Asia R20-million a year for five years to cover certain costs.

The terms of this loan have never been explained, but it is clear from the #GuptaLeaks and court records that the plan was for Denel Asia to repay it.

On 5 February 2016 amaBhungane broke the story of the Guptas’ involvement in Denel Asia and treasury began issuing the first of a series of statements questioning the legality of the joint venture.

Denel appeared undaunted.

On 24 February Denel’s acting chief executive Zwelakhe Ntshepe signed a board memorandum recording Denel’s approval to negotiate the formation of Denel India, in which Denel Asia would have 49% and Adani Enterprises 51%.

Two days later he jetted off on another Gupta jet, ZS-AKG, bound for the Indian city of Goa, which was hosting the 2016 Defexpo, a defence trade show. Denel’s exhibition stand was confidently hosted under the banner of “Denel Asia” – a company that barely existed but promised a turn-over of billions.

Now those dreams are shattered.

• The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism is an independent non-profit. Be an amaB supporter to help it do more. Sign up for its newsletter to get more.
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