The Gupta family and some of their associates have established an extensive network of front companies in and around Dubai that has been used to conceal and allegedly launder hundreds of millions of rands in dubious payments linked to government contracts in South Africa.

A News24 investigation has confirmed that at least six Gupta-linked companies registered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are shell companies that either list fraudulent addresses or whose business premises are rarely, if ever, manned by actual employees.

At least R760m in payments linked to contracts from South African state-owned companies and government departments were channelled through some of these companies, documents contained in the #GuptaLeaks have shown.

News24 travelled to Dubai to try and establish whether any of these companies at the centre of alleged money laundering linked to state capture actually exist.

– Dubai: The Guptas’ city of shells

Our investigation has confirmed what some South Africans with knowledge of the Guptas’ business dealings have long feared, namely that the Guptas and some of their associates are deliberately flushing alleged ill-gotten gains through their shell companies in the UAE because of the country’s strict financial secrecy laws and favourable tax provisions.

The Transnet millions

One of the companies News24 visited is JJ Trading, which, according to earlier #GuptaLeaks reports, received at least R760m in alleged kickbacks from large Chinese companies contracted to Transnet, South Africa’s state-owned rail and logistics operator.

Unlike most of the other Gupta-linked shells, JJ Trading actually has a website. It describes the company as a trader in “agro products” and scrap metal.

The website also lists an address for JJ Trading in the Hamriyah Free Zone in Sharjah, about 50km north of Dubai. Hamriyah is one of more than thirty free zones, or free-trade zones (FTZs), located in the UAE. These zones allow businesspeople from abroad to establish companies with 100% foreign ownership and also offer attractive tax perks.

However, when News24 visited the Hamriyah Free Zone’s main entrance, the guards on duty told us that no company by the name of JJ Trading has premises there.

The queries we sent to the email address and the cellphone number provided on the company’s website went unanswered.

Milking the Free State

We also tried to locate the offices of Global Corporation, Accurate Investments and Fidelity Enterprises.

These three Gupta shells were used to launder tens of millions of rands in proceeds from the Free State provincial government’s failed Vrede dairy project in order to ultimately help pay for the Guptas’ lavish wedding party at Sun City in 2013, according to an investigation by amaBhungane.

Payments from Accurate Investments to Brookfield Consultants, a US-based company linked to relatives of the Guptas, have also attracted the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Financial Times recently reported.

According to documents in the #GuptaLeaks, Global Corporation and Accurate Investments supposedly share the same address in a building next to a lagoon in the Emirate of Sharjah, Dubai’s neighbouring emirate.

But the address led us to a residential tower, and the guard at the reception informed us that there are no companies operating out of the building.

Fidelity Enterprises, which processed more than R30m of taxpayers’ money milked from the Free State diary project, also turned out to be nothing but a front. Business owners in Al Quoz, an industrial area south of Dubai’s city centre where the company is supposed to be located, told us that Fidelity’s address is incorrect and that they’ve never heard of such a company in the area.

Nobody home…

When we did manage to find an actual office for one of the Gupta shells, Griffin Line General Trading, the door was locked and there was nobody inside.

The company is situated in an office tower in Dubai’s main business district and, if its website is to be believed, trades in rice, spices and other foodstuffs.

But judging by documents in the #GuptaLeaks, Griffin Line has mainly been used to settle some of the Guptas’ accounts with travel agents and hotels.

An office worker from another company on the same floor told us that they sometimes see a woman at Griffin Line. We sent the company queries through a portal on its website, but it went unanswered. The Guptas also did not respond to queries emailed to them.

News24 ultimately spent a week chasing from one Gupta-linked company to the next without encountering a single employee.

For a network of companies that has received nearly a billion rand in revenues linked to public expenditure in South Africa, the Guptas’ UAE-based businesses are eerily deserted.

*News24’s trip to the UAE was made possible by a grant from the Taco Kuiper Fund for Investigative Journalism, administered by Wits Journalism.

On the surface, Dubai is one of the world’s great success stories.

Its towering skyscrapers and glaring opulence bear testimony to a desert boom-town that has experienced nearly unrivalled economic growth in the last few decades.

But the shiny office blocks, luxury hotels and colossal shopping malls conceal a decidedly seedier side to the city; a darker character that exhibits all the traits of a modern day tax haven.

According to the Tax Justice Network’s 2015 Financial Secrecy Index, Dubai “stands out above many other jurisdictions in terms of its lack of interest in transparency, and the laxity with which its offshore sector is supervised and regulated”.

It also has an “ask-no-questions, see-no-evil” approach to commercial transactions, financial regulation and crimes.

The report also highlighted Dubai’s reputation for attracting “large quantities of criminal and tax evading money from Asia, Africa and further afield”.

The story of the globe’s illicit cash flows would not be complete without looking at how it relates to South Africa – in particular to the Gupta family.

SEE: The Guptas’ bogus Dubai businesses 

There has been much speculation about the amount of rands that travelled across South African borders to the Guptas’ new base in Dubai.

The #GuptaLeaks have clearly shown that the Gupta brothers and their close associates have amassed a considerable collection of companies and properties in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Find all you need to know about #GuptaLeaks here

The network of shell companies established by the family was apparently put to good use when they needed to conceal and process the vast fortunes they’d siphoned off from government contracts in South Africa.

Dubai has a well-known reputation as a play place for the rich.

It boasts the world’s tallest building, and its premier shopping mall counts among the largest ever built.

One expat we met described the city as a “Disneyland for adults”.

Thanks to this combination of world-class amenities, upmarket shops and a conveniently opaque financial system, Dubai represents a perfect fit for South Africa’s famously profligate Gupta family.

The #GuptaLeaks have helped to unearth staggering details on how the Guptas and their associates moved the dubious proceeds of state tenders in South Africa to their collection of shell companies in and around Dubai.

We travelled to Dubai to see what the Guptas’ new base was like. We also hoped to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanics of their network of shell companies.

Shell shocked

Our first stop was a considerable distance out of town. We were looking for a scrap metal dealership inside the Hamriyah Free Zone, a large industrial area located next to a golf course and otherwise surrounded by the desert’s soft, powdery sand.

JJ Trading, or JJT, the first Gupta shell on our list, should have been a thriving business.

Apart from its scrap metal activities, the company received at least R760 million in revenue linked to Transnet port crane and train tenders.

However, the security guards at the boom gate had never heard of JJT and advised us to go into the office.

A sign outside indicated that it was the Hamriyah Free Zone.

We were assured that they would have a list of all the businesses inside the Free Zone.

But JJT was not on any such list.

“I don’t know this company,” said the guard behind the desk. “Call them [JJT],” he suggested.

Other than on paper, the company did not appear to exist.

Webster’s New World Finance and Investment Dictionary describes a shell corporation as a “company that has legal status but provides no service or products and has few, if any, assets”.

“Shell companies may be set up for illegal purposes, such as tax evasion, or formed in anticipation of attracting funding,” according to the dictionary.

We concluded that this definition applied to JJ Trading.

The Hills have eyes

We arrived in Dubai at night and the first thing we saw was the dazzling luminance of a trail of skyscrapers that marched into the distance.

One of these colossal structures stood out among the rest.

It was the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Its head-turning height was obvious even at night, with its massive frame etched against the backdrop of a dark horizon.

As the metro train carried us from the airport into downtown Dubai, the city’s monetary abundance became increasingly visible.

It was as if the emirate’s riches had been poured into its structures.

The city’s developers clearly believe in the adage ‘the bigger the better’, as evidenced by the row of concrete, steel and glass giants that engulfed us as we entered the central business district.

The impressive skyline represents an overwhelming abundance of money, an unapologetic display of wealth that lay as far and wide as the glittering lights allowed our eyes to see.

True to their spendthrift ways, Tony Gupta and his two older siblings chose Dubai’s most expensive house in the most exclusive area when they bought their first property in the city in 2015.

Villa L35 in the Emirates Hills estate is the perfect sanctuary for the Guptas, and the family did not mind parting ways with a cool R331m for the property.

In order to get to Emirates Hills, one needs to drive past yet another golf course.

Only those who’ve experienced the city’s formidable heat could fully appreciate the volumes of effort and water that must go into the maintenance of these oasis-like playgrounds.

It was 41 degrees Celsius on the day of our visit to Emirates Hills. According to some of the locals we spoke to, this constituted “cool weather” compared to the summer months.

A boom gate with cameras and security guards confirmed that we had arrived in one of Dubai’s wealthiest suburbs.

Emirates Hills is a sprawling residential development, so we had quite a distance to cover between the entry point and Guptas’ villa.

But the drive was by no means boring, with the view of mansions of every shape and size serving as our entertainment during the car ride.

Even on such a blistering hot day, the Guptas’ house looked cool, thanks to the trees and plants around the villa.

A family crest on the fence showed that this was indeed the Gupta residence.

We wondered what one would encounter if one were to venture beyond the house’s Indian-style arches and the line of lanterns outside, and finally through the impressive wooden door that keeps unwanted visitors at bay.

But we couldn’t hang around for too long. A group of men who looked like security guards were sitting in the garden, and our presence had drawn their attention.

We duly told our taxi driver to move along.

King of the mythical beasts

During the same time that the Guptas started shopping for a house in Dubai, they were also in the market to rent office space.

One of the potential commercial addresses mentioned in the #GuptaLeaks was an office in the financial district.

However, it was on the opposite, slightly run-down side of the highway, away from the glitzy buildings that top companies prefer to occupy.

Listed on a name board at the reception of the Al Moosa Tower was the name of the Gupta-linked company we were looking for: “Griffin Line General Trading”.

While the company is said to trade in rice, the leaked emails reveal that the Guptas mainly used its accounts for travel bookings.

There is a paper sign on the glass door, bearing the company’s name. Its emblem is a bird of prey that has its eye in the shape of a “G”.

The griffin – a mythological half eagle, half lion creature -was thought to be the king of all the beasts.

This obscure shelf company’s name probably speaks volumes about how the Guptas view their position in the business world, we joked.

We knocked on Griffin Line’s door and tried to open it.

But the door was locked, and there was no response to our knocking.

The word “hello” was scribbled in blue on the company’s printed sign.

We obviously weren’t the first people to have come here, only to find an empty office behind a locked door.

As we were about to leave, a woman came out of an office on the opposite side of the floor. We asked her if she knew anyone at Griffin Line.

“Only one lady works there,” she said.

“She comes and goes. I don’t know her name.”

This description of the scant activity at Griffin Line seemed wholly at odds with the thriving rice business it was made out to be on its website.

Milk and money

One of the key Gupta companies in the UAE is Fidelity Enterprises.

It is registered in Jebel Ali, one of the UAE’s free zones that allow foreign businesses to operate in the country.

Fidelity holds shares in Mabengela Investments, a key shareholder in Infinity Media Networks, which in turn owns ANN7.

It is also one of the Gupta shell companies that saw nearly R32m from the Free State’s failed Vrede dairy project travel through its bank accounts, only to eventually end up with the Guptas’ Oakbay Investments back in South Africa.

WATCH: Inside the controversial Gupta Free State dairy farm

According to documents in the #GuptaLeaks, Fidelity is supposed to be located at “plot no 358 – 615” in Al Quoz, an industrial area just outside Dubai’s city centre.

Our taxi driver sounded confused when we gave him the address. He knew Al Quoz, but he explained that it was a part of town mostly filled with warehouses.

The driver dropped us off at the first warehouse he saw. It was a car workshop.

A mechanic with a sweaty brow was working on a red Lamborghini. When we showed the address for Fidelity Enterprises to the woman managing the workshop’s office, she frowned. Addresses there didn’t work that way, she explained.

There were no “plot” numbers for the area. We went outside and looked at all the warehouses around us.

The way in which the addresses were formulated bore no resemblance to Fidelity’s supposed address.

Whoever registered Fidelity clearly had no intention for the company to ever be found.

Going global

To get to the next Gupta shell on our list, we needed to travel some 18km to the north of downtown Dubai.

Global Corporation LLC is supposed to be located in a building next to an azure lagoon in Sharjah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates.

Like Fidelity Enterprises, money from the Free State diary project had also been washed through Global Corporation’s bank account.

We asked the security guard at the front desk for Global Corporation.

“This is a residential building. People come here all the time looking for businesses but there are no businesses here.

This is an apartment block. People live here,” he told us. He thought there might be another building somewhere nearby whose name contained the word “lagoon”.

But after asking another taxi driver familiar with the area and searching the internet, we concluded that Global Corporation’s address was a sham.

Sea shells

SAS Global, yet another Gupta shell, is the sole shareholder in a South African company that appears to be benefitting from provincial government tenders in South Africa, as revealed in the #GuptaLeaks.

The company’s address is in the HDS Tower, a 39-storey office block in Dubai’s Jumeirah Lakes area. We asked the building’s security staff for SAS Global and gave them the office number.

“No, you mean GBS Global,” one of the guards insisted. We nodded.

Sure, GBS Global it is. By then, we already knew that the chances of finding a real office were slim.

The first thing we noticed after getting out the lift on the 13th floor was how many empty offices there were.

We found a woman sitting at GBS’ reception desk. It looked like she was the only person there.

A GBS brochure stated that the company offers company incorporation services “in tax efficient offshore jurisdictions around the world”.

The woman had no idea who SAS Global was.

We had now been at the addresses of five Gupta “companies” without encountering an actual office.

Companies behind companies

The culture of secrecy is so tightly woven into Dubai’s corporate fabric that asking even basic questions about companies is frowned upon.

Trying to obtain simple information such as the name of a company’s directors or their contact details proved to be a near-impossible task.

This once again became clear when we went looking for SKG Holdings, a Gupta shell company that supposedly bears the initials of Shiv Kumar Gupta, the Gupta brothers’ late father.

The company’s registered address is in the Al Fattan Currency House, an elegant office block in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

The building is a glass affair with spotless, blue-tinted windows.

A small army of window cleaners dangling from ropes had no doubt recently cleaned the structure’s slick exterior, as we’d seen it being done at buildings across Dubai.

However, the Al Fattan Currency House’s physical transparency stood in sharp contrast to the murky nature of the business conducted inside the building.

Once again, our lift opened onto a floor with a number of empty offices.

The address for SKG Holdings led us to a company called Intertrust – a firm that registers and incorporates companies inside the DIFC free zone.

SKG is one of their clients, an Intertrust employee told us.

We explained to her that we were struggling to get hold of SKG’s directors and asked her if she could provide us with any useful details about the company.

“Sorry. It’s an SPC. A Special Purpose Company,” she said.

She was unable to provide us with any further information.

All that glitters…

An expat we spoke to told us that the reason he chose to make Dubai his new home is because one can’t help but look up. You look up to the skyscrapers and the constant blue sky and you become aspirational.

“Of course,” he whispers, “everyone also knows that a large part of the city is built on dirty money from African dictators and Eastern European gangsters. It’s just that nobody talks about it”.

The metro train ride from our hotel back to the airport later afforded us a final view of Dubai’s soaring skyline. Our search for the Guptas’ companies had taken us into some of the glass and steel towers that were now rolling past the carriage’s window.

We couldn’t help but wonder how many of the companies in these buildings were nothing more than empty offices with printed signs stuck on locked doors.

The Guptas’ network of UAE front companies may very well be just one tiny component in an elaborate, glittering city of shells.

News24’s trip to the UAE was made possible by a grant from the Taco Kuiper Fund for Investigative Journalism, administered by Wits Journalism.

Even the deputy president’s office was fair game. Investigations show they zeroed in on some of the nation’s most sensitively placed staff, including the head of the Presidential Protection Service as well as Zuma’s chief of staff, his private secretary and a chief director in the deputy president’s office.

In certain instances, some of these officials appear to have returned favours, potentially subverting their positions in the Union Buildings for the Guptas’ benefit.

The fact that Saxonwold’s most influential family attempted to recruit people close to the president raises questions about the nature of their relationship with Zuma: were they trying to spy on him? Or were they putting in place a back channel allowing him to communicate with them via trusted intermediaries?

Since the #GuptaLeaks provide mere glimpses of these relationships, only the president, the Gupta brothers and the officials in question know the whole truth. The four officials we feature here have all denied impropriety or said they carried out their duties with professionalism.

One official, however, said she would “be more vigilant and judicious in professional relationships” in future. The Presidency and the Guptas did not respond to detailed questions.

Major-General Muzingaye Mxolisi Dladla: head of Presidential Protection Service (2010-date) and long-time bodyguard to Zuma

As the Scorpions anti-corruption unit were raiding Zuma’s Johannesburg home in August 2005, two vehicles screeched to a halt outside the gates. Out poured several automatic rifle-toting members of the elite Presidential Protection Unit.

A tense armed stand-off ensued between Zuma’s protectors and his would-be prosecutors. Zuma – then a private citizen – was entitled to protection by this elite South African Police Service unit, who guard the country’s current and former presidents and deputy presidents together with their families.

Among the protectors who rushed to Zuma’s side that day was Dladla.

Ever since then, their fortunes have closely tracked one another. Zuma escaped the corruption charges and became president; Dladla rose rapidly through the police ranks to head the Presidential Protection Service, as it is now called. Both are controversial figures.

Zuma’s indiscretions are well known, but Dladla escaped attempted murder charges in 2010 after he was accused of spraying three Uzi submachine gun rounds at an elderly motorist in Durban who got in the way of Zuma’s blue light cavalcade.

Zuma paid tribute to Dladla at a funeral in 2011, thanking him and other members of the so-called Echo Squad for standing by him during his darkest days in politics, including thwarting an alleged assassination attempt when he was deputy president.

The relationship has only grown closer: investigative magazine Noseweek alleged in 2012 that Dladla commanded a secret spy unit within the protection service, tasked with monitoring Zuma’s rivals and ensuring his re-election as ANC president.

It now appears that Zuma’s friends, the Guptas, became equally enamoured of Dladla – and rewarded him for his specialist services.

An early clue of their relationship includes an August 2010 email chain from the #GuptaLeaks showing that a Sahara sister company intended to send Dladla and his then wife, long-serving Presidency official Mogotladi “Mo” Mogano (see below) on a weekend getaway to the Maldives.

Both Dladla and Mogano told us they never travelled to the Maldives, with Mogano confirming that “whilst Sahara did make an offer, my then partner and I did not receive tickets and did not undertake the offered travel”.

However, the emails indicate that Gupta executive Ashu Chawla went as far as requesting a Johannesburg travel agent to “issue and email me the [air] ticket” for the couple, quoted at R9 290 per person on Emirates.

A source, who asked not to be named for their own safety, told us that the Guptas at one stage prepared documents transferring legal ownership to Dladla, but then the property burned down.

A second source in the Presidency independently recalled how a house where Mogano was living with Dladla in 2010-11 had burned down.

Mogano referred our queries about the property to Dladla, who claimed that his company never traded but remained silent on the circumstances in which he appears to have made extensive use of a Gupta-owned property.

What use did the Guptas make of their connections with Dladla? An unsigned 2013 affidavit unearthed in the #GuptaLeaks shows Tony Gupta explaining to the police how he procured VIP blue light escort services for the family’s wedding guests.

The Guptas were in trouble because the black BMW escort vehicles they used had been illegally fitted with blue lights and false number plates.

Gupta’s affidavit, submitted as part of the police investigation into the wedding debacle, makes the astonishing claim that the president’s top bodyguard was responsible for procuring the illegal VIP escort service.

Gupta states: “I requested General Dladla to advise me on road transport security under circumstances explained to him … where guests arrived at Waterkloof Air Force Base and had to travel by car through rural areas to Sun City.”

“I indicated that I would pay for these services without any reservation. I am aware of an initiative within the South African Police Service where members of the public can insist on protection/control services at a prescribed fee.

“General Dladla requested me to furnish him with information and inter alia the flight schedules of the guests,” Gupta states, after which Dladla appears to have taken care of the Guptas’ needs.

“On or about 30 April 2013, I noted certain protection vehicles and members of the SAPS accompanying the group of guests from Waterkloof … to Sun City. I did not find this awkward given the requests mentioned,” says Gupta.

“I expected an invoice from the SAPS for the services rendered … On or about 30 April 2013, I received an invoice from a company called S & M Transport … indicating a request for payment for an amount in excess of R500 000. I did not expect an invoice from S&M Transport and I do not know who S&M Transport is. I further do not know who Salomie Manamela is and I had no arrangement with the aforesaid person to send me an invoice for ‘escort services’.”

Gupta, who was in serious trouble at the time, may have been playing dumb but the identity of S&M Transport and Manamela remains a mystery.

But that was the end of the matter: there is no mention of the company or Dladla’s alleged role in securing its services in the inquiry’s final report.

Responding to our questions, Dladla flatly contradicted Gupta, saying he played no part in “any logistic arrangements either at Sun City or at Waterkloof Air Base”.

However, he confirmed that he “provided an affidavit to SAPS which set out the facts as part of an investigation which was held”. This investigation’s findings have never been made public, but all indications are that both Dladla and Gupta wriggled off the hook.

Like a cat with nine lives – again, mirroring his boss, Zuma – there is one final similarity. Michael Hulley, Zuma’s private legal advisor, prepared Dladla’s responses to our questions.

Denying that he had been captured by the Guptas, or acted to further their interests, Dladla said: “I have performed my duties in relation to President Zuma as a member of SAPS with the discipline and professionalism that it deserves.”

Lakela Kaunda: deputy director-general and head of private office of the president (2009-); chief operating officer in the Presidency (2014-)

Lakela Kaunda is Zuma’s fiercely loyal chief of staff, who has worked beside him in various roles since the mid-1990s.

Emailed diary appointments contained in the #GuptaLeaks show Rajesh “Tony” Gupta accepting a flurry of diary appointments with Kaunda on four occasions between 11 December 2012 and 31 January 2013.

On the fourth occasion Kaunda met Gupta, the email calendar shows a “Bruce” attending – a possible reference to Bruce Koloane, the then chief director of state protocol.

Kaunda’s own meetings with Gupta shortly before this raise questions about her role in the Waterkloof landing debacle.

Koloane was subsequently forced to resign for her role in facilitating the Gupta wedding plane landing at Waterkloof air base, and several military officers who approved the landing later testified they believed instructions had emanated from “Number One” – a codename for Zuma.

Kaunda does not dispute the meetings with Gupta, only that Koloane was not present.

He could not be contacted to verify this. Kaunda also denied playing a role in facilitating the Guptas’ aircraft landing needs, saying, “I actually discovered about the wedding landing at Waterkloof when Radio 702 broke the story on the day of the landing itself. I was totally unaware of it before then.”

Be this as it may, the Guptas were keen at this point to do business with Kaunda. Between the third and fourth successive meetings, as scheduled in Gupta’s email calendar, Kaunda ceded her 100% share in Ntomb’nkulu Investments CC to her son, Siphesihle.

She then forwarded confirmation of the new shareholding to Gupta on 23 January, stating that “we will use this vehicle”.

Asked why she had ceded her shares to her son, and for what activity would Ntomb’nkulu be a “vehicle”, Kaunda repeated the explanation she had given to the Sunday Times in June: “I initially thought of closing down the company as I was not using it, but then felt it would be cost effective to keep as it already existed and we had paid for the establishment. I then decided to cede it to my son,” she said.

“When they [the Guptas] said they wanted to offer a business opportunity and asked if I had a company that could be utilised, I then sent that email about Ntomb’nkulu … the offer of going into business with the family was declined and the matter was never pursued.”

At the time, Islandsite 255’s joint directors were Tony Gupta and Zuma’s son, Duduzane. Islandsite 255 is Gupta-controlled Oakbay Resources and Energy’s BEE partner in Shiva Uranium.

In response, Kaunda said: “It is the first time actually that I hear of that cession of the shares or that resolution. Ntomb’nkulu Investments does not own shares in any company whatsoever.”

Dixie Investments, the company meant to cede the shares to Ntomb’nkulu, retained its stake. For now, at least, the public will have to take Kaunda’s denials on trust.

Delsey Sithole: private secretary in the private office of the president (2009-2012); director: events and protocol in the Presidency (2012 to date)

Zuma’s private secretary coordinates both his official and private diaries, and so knows what the president is doing when his formal duties are over for the day.

It is a unique special position of trust and responsibility, which entails liaising with the president’s security detail after hours to ensure he is safe.

The president’s private secretary is also a regular traveller as part of the president’s delegation on overseas trips. The woman Zuma entrusted with the task at the outset of his Presidency, Delsey Sithole, was very soon in the Guptas’ crosshairs.

Financial reconciliation records from the #GuptaLeaks indicate that Sithole received cash amounts totalling R8 310.78 from a Gupta company in June 2009, just a month after Zuma became president.

It is not known what the payment was for, and Sithole did not provide any clarification in her response to our detailed questions.

Fast-forward a year, Gupta brother Rajesh invited Sithole and her teenage son to watch the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

A spreadsheet contained in the #GuptaLeaks shows that Sithole found herself amidst illustrious company in the luxurious Sahara suite in the iconic Soccer City calabash. Her inclusion hints at the development of a special relationship with the Guptas.

The family’s other guests for the match included India’s wealthiest businessman Mukesh Ambani and his family, as well as one of Zuma’s wives, his son Edward, and some of Zuma’s most trusted spies – the head of police crime intelligence, Richard Mdluli and his sidekick Nkosana “Killer” Ximba.

Sithole did not dispute her presence that day, telling us that, “I received many offers of hospitality from various companies during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.”

Fast-forward another two years, to early May 2013, and Sithole publicly displayed her loyalty to the Guptas. Despite the outpouring of public anger about the family’s brazen takeover of Waterkloof military air base to land a planeload of overseas wedding guests, Sithole crowed on her Facebook page: “Its [sic] good to be at Sun City. Some people are being tjatjarag [over-excited]. I am enjoying the wedding.”

By this stage, Sithole had been removed from her position as private secretary and redeployed to head the events and protocol division in the Presidency.

A source in the Presidency recalled a “security incident” involving Zuma’s diary that had occurred in 2011, after which Sithole was moved.

Details about the incident, including a rumour that the Guptas had accessed confidential details about Zuma’s diary via Sithole, could not be independently verified.

Sithole did not respond to the allegation specifically, but said: “In my previous capacity as private secretary, I interacted with various stakeholders on a number of occasions, involving various activities and my interaction with the Gupta family was in that capacity. Such interaction never promoted any unethical activity.”

She added that her move to protocol and events happened at her request, for “career growth and advancement” reasons.

But even after she moved out of Zuma’s private office, the #GuptaLeaks suggest that Sithole and Tony Gupta retained ties. For example, in September 2012, Sithole sent him the guest list for a Jacob Zuma Foundation fundraising dinner. The list includes a number of prominent Nigerian businessmen with investments in South Africa.

How Sithole obtained this it is unclear, as are her motives for disclosing it. Was she moonlighting on social events for Zuma’s private foundation and leaking intelligence to the Guptas about Zuma’s would-be private benefactors?

Sithole did not provide any answers.

The #GuptaLeaks emails show Tony Gupta accepting a diary appointment with one “Delicy Sithole” at Sahara’s Midrand offices in January 2013. Notably, this meeting was scheduled around the time of a flurry of meetings between Gupta and Kaunda (Sithole’s former boss in Zuma’s private office).

Sithole did not dispute that the meeting took place as scheduled.

A few days after this meeting, Sithole sent Chawla a CV for one Phatse Justice Piitso – a former SACP provincial secretary in Limpopo and South African ambassador to Cuba between 2009 and 2011 – requesting that Chawla “please forward to Tony”.

Again, Sithole is silent on the purpose of her email. As for Piitso, he was – or was soon to be – Sithole’s husband. Sithole told us that she sent the CV “in good faith to a stakeholder and acquaintance [Gupta] and there was never an encouragement of untoward expectations”.

Piitso said that he has sent his CV to many people, but denied that he got “any employment from the Gupta family or anything else from Mr Tony Gupta”. However, Piitso has cropped up recently as a pro-Gupta commentator.

In 2016, Bell Pottinger spin doctor Victoria Geoghegan shared Piitso’s name with a MoneyWeb journalist, as part of a list of “people who had agreed to talk on economic apartheid”.

The Guptas had hired the London-based PR firm on a monthly £100 000-plus (R1.5m-plus) contract, aimed at distracting public attention from the family’s murky business dealings.

Other pro-Gupta commentators and luminaries on the Bell Pottinger list included Andile Mngxitama, Ben Ngubane, Kebby Maphatsoe, Tshepo Kgadima and Lindiwe Zulu.

Earlier in 2017, Piitso also penned an eloquent defence of Brian Molefe, who had been exposed by the public protector as one of the Guptas’ accomplices in the nexus of state capture.

Piitso lavished praise on the former Eskom chief executive – then on his way to Parliament as an MP – calling him “one of the finest young leaders our movement has ever produced”.

In language that has become synonymous with pro-Gupta lobby, Piitso urged Molefe to “take forward the revolutionary programme of the second phase of our transition for radical transformation”.

Piitso ignored our question about his inclusion in the Bell Pottinger list, but said: “The revolutionary concept of white monopoly capital is not an invention of the Gupta family. It is a concept which seeks to define the development of monopoly imperialism and its characteristic features within the South African realities.

Throughout my life, I have written so many views about this important theoretical question and I will continue to do so.”

Piitso added that he did not seek compensation for his written work from any media houses.

Mogotladi “Mo” Mogano: assistant private secretary to the president (pre-2009); chief director in office of the deputy president (post-2009)

Mogano has worked in the Presidency for more than a decade, initially as assistant private secretary to Thabo Mbeki.

When Kgalema Motlanthe became president in September 2008, he inherited her services.

After Zuma succeeded Motlanthe, Mogano moved to the deputy president’s office with him, where she remains under Cyril Ramaphosa.

Because she has been ensconced in the office of Zuma’s main political rivals down the years, whilst married to one of Zuma’s most trusted bodyguards, Mogano’s relationship with the Guptas is worth highlighting. (See Muzingaye Mxolisi Dladla, above.)

Mogano can be linked to the Guptas since at least February 2009, when company registration records show that she became a co-director with Tony Gupta and Zuma’s son Duduzane in Karibu Hospitality.

The company became dormant in 2011 and was deregistered in 2013. Mogano said “nothing came of the venture,” adding that “I resigned before any business could be conducted or any trading could take place.”

We have already seen that a Sahara sister company booked return flights to the Maldives in 2010 for Mogano and her then-husband, the head of the Presidential Protection Service Muzingaye Mxolisi Dladla. Both have denied receiving the gift.

The couple also appears to have lived for a while in a Gupta-owned property, about which Mogano referred our query to Dladla, who in turn ignored it.

A source in the Presidency told us several years ago that Mogano had also “flirted with” a job offer from the Guptas, a tip-off that appears to be borne out by a June 2011 email from the #GuptaLeaks in which Mogano sends her “comprehensive resume” to Tony Gupta.

What job Mogano was applying for remains a mystery – she told us “there was no outcome” and she remains gainfully employed in the Presidency.

Mogano confirmed her attendance, with a friend, after her husband dropped out. She added that she had declared the hospitality as a gift in her annual declaration of interests. Mogano now appears keen to dissociate herself from the Guptas and Dladla, from whom she says she separated three years ago.

She concedes: “With concerns of state capture and as valid as they are, I do accept that such associations can raise doubts about one’s professionalism and loyalty to the public service code of conduct.”

But she argued that she joined the Presidency “with the full desire to serve the country and not personalities” and had maintained her top security clearance throughout her decade in service.

“I have not allowed my association with elements of the Gupta family enterprise to influence my work adversely or unethically, but have also learnt from recent events to be more vigilant and judicious in professional relationships,” she said.

• Scorpio is the Daily Maverick’s new investigative unit. If you’d like to support its work, click here.

• 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.

But the Guptas’ repeated use of US dollars to move their kickbacks around the globe, along with previously hidden ties to US companies, may render the Hawks’ efforts (or lack thereof) irrelevant.

Under American anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws, one link to the United States could expose all members of any broader conspiracy to the jurisdiction of American courts.

In addition to personal US criminal liability, ill-gotten gains are also at risk.

The US Department of Justice’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative recently seized billions of dollars of assets – including bank accounts, real estate, art, jewelry, aircraft and yachts – located around the world.

When announcing the latest such seizure last Friday – stemming from contracts corruptly obtained by bribing Nigeria’s former oil minister – a senior official at the US Department of Justice remarked: “Corrupt foreign officials and business executives should make no mistake: if illicit funds are within the reach of the United States, we will seek to forfeit them and to return them to the victims from whom they were stolen.”

US-listed companies

The Guptas’ dealings with software giant SAP potentially provides US authorities with a clear means of getting their foot in the door.

Although headquartered in Germany, SAP’s stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange, thus making the company subject to various US laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Last week, amaBhungane and Scorpio revealed that SAP paid R100-million to Gupta-linked CAD House.

By the end of the week, SAP had replaced its executive team in South Africa and had launched both internal and external investigations, the latter being led by US law firm Baker McKenzie.

To receive maximum credit for cooperating – thereby potentially reducing recommended fines by half – companies are expected to thoroughly investigate and self-report FCPA violations to US authorities.

To be eligible for any such credit, companies are further required to hand over “all relevant facts about individuals involved in corporate misconduct” to the US Department of Justice.

US Dollar and Gmail snares

Forthcoming instalments of the #GuptaLeaks will further detail the Guptas’ frequent transactions in US dollars – the Guptas’ currency of choice of when moving hundreds of millions of dollars to and from its Dubai bank accounts.

For instance, the #GuptaLeaks reveal that much of cash sloshing through the Dubai accounts are the proceeds of so-called “consulting” contracts such as the China South Rail-Transnet contract previously detailed by amaBhungane.

The #GuptaLeaks also reveal that communications related to the CSR kickbacks were carried out using US-based email providers.

Major US law firm, White & Case, explained how such US-dollar transactions and even emails can put someone within the very long reach of US laws, including anti-bribery laws.

“Many US laws — including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in certain circumstances and various antifraud statutes — may establish jurisdiction over a crime whenever it involves the use of any ‘means or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce’.

“The term is broadly defined by US authorities and may cover any communication or movement that crosses state or international borders, including wire transfers, emails, phone calls, mail and travel.

“Given the reach of US commerce, from free email servers to correspondent banks that clear US dollars for non-US based banks, such a broad definition can significantly increase the reach of US law.”

Beyond transferring many millions of dollars through US-based correspondent banks, the Guptas, their associates and many political figures linked to them frequently used US-based email providers, such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail.

These US-based email accounts were used to communicate on a wide variety of topics including the Sun City wedding expenses, the near-daily US dollar movements to and from Dubai, as well as to make arrangements with parties in the United States who received funds from the Guptas’ accounts in Dubai.

US money laundering Laws

Regarding US anti-money laundering laws, White & Case notes: “US law makes it a criminal offense to engage in or attempt to engage in a financial transaction involving funds that are known to be the proceeds of certain unlawful activities, or to engage in a financial transaction that provides funds for the commission of a crime (such as terrorist financing or sending a bribe payment).

“This offense is called ‘money laundering,’ and non-US corporations and foreign nationals may be subject to prosecution under US federal anti-money laundering statutes if they are involved in the transfer or attempted transfer of illegally obtained funds or funds used to further criminal activity.”

The Guptas’ forwarding their ill-gotten gains to a US-incorporated company could potentially run afoul of such laws.

AmaBhungane and Scorpio revealed that over US$1-million paid by Swiss crane manufacturer Liebherr ultimately ended up in a US company, Brookfield Consulting, owned by apparent US-citizen relatives of the Guptas.

• Read #GuptaLeaks: More multinationals ensnared in Transnet kickback web 

Roughly another US$9-million – apparently originating with China South Rail’s “consulting” contract – was also wired to Brookfield in the United States.

Conspiracy Charges

Individuals comfortably sitting in South Africa or Dubai might be unaware of the US legal risks created by the actions of merely one member of a broader conspiracy.

White & Case further explains that one link to the United States could expose all members of any broader conspiracy. “Conspiracy law may subject non-US companies or individuals who have not committed an act within the United States to US criminal jurisdiction.

“If the United States can establish jurisdiction over a single conspirator, it may have jurisdiction over all conspirators, whether companies or individuals, wherever they may be found.”

Asset Forfeiture

US officials have described the FCPA and the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative as “two sides of the same anti-corruption coin.”

Former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch explained: “Since it was established in 2010, the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative has been an effective tool in our ongoing efforts to curb high-level public corruption around the world. As we move forward, the Department of Justice will remain committed to using all the resources at its disposal to ensure that government funds go to their lawful purposes; that stolen assets are returned to state coffers; and that corrupt officials are held fully accountable for abusing their positions.”

Over the past few years alone, the US has seized many billions of dollars of ill-gotten cash and assets.

Two of the largest seizures – totaling US$2.5-billion to date – involve far-reaching, complex corruption in Uzbekistan and Malaysia.

In Uzbekistan, the daughter of the former president received over US$800-million from telecom companies. US authorities seized US$850-million sitting in accounts in Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg.

The mere fact that these funds were moved in US dollars – and thus transmitted through the US – was sufficient to seek their forfeiture.

The US Department of Justice noted that the president’s daughter’s “associates laundered the corruption proceeds through accounts held in Latvia, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The illicit funds were transmitted through financial institutions in the United States before they were deposited into accounts in these countries, thereby subjecting them to US jurisdiction.”

Last month, the US announced the latest in a series of seizures related to Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal – bringing the total grabbed by US authorities in that case alone to $1.7-billion.

The US Department of Justice’s characterization of the Malaysian scheme undoubtedly rings true for many South Africans:

“Today’s complaints reveal another chapter of this multi-year, multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme, bringing the total identified stolen proceeds to $4.5 billion. This money financed the lavish lifestyles of the alleged co-conspirators at the expense and detriment of the Malaysian people. We are unwavering in our commitment to ensure the United States is not a safe haven for corrupt individuals and kleptocrats to hide their ill-gotten wealth or money, and that recovered assets be returned to the victims from which they were taken.”

“These cases involve billions of dollars that should have been used to help the people of Malaysia, but instead was used by a small number of individuals to fuel their astonishing greed.”

“The misappropriation of 1MDB funds was accomplished with an extravagant web of lies and bogus transactions that were brought to light by the dedicated attorneys and law enforcement agents who continue to work on this matter. We simply will not allow the United States to be a place where corrupt individuals can expect to hide assets and lavishly spend money that should be used for the benefit of citizens of other nations.”

• 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.

• Scorpio is the Daily Maverick’s new investigative unit. If you’d like to support its work, click here.

Bank and accounting records show that two heavy equipment manufacturers – Swiss-based Liebherr-International AG and China’s Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Limited – funnelled *more than R100-million* to the Guptas, as Transnet awarded them contracts to supply cranes to South African ports.

This brings to seven the number of large, mostly respected companies, known to have secretly paid Gupta fronts in connection with Transnet contracts.

A forgotten tipoff

Four years ago, an anonymous tipster told amaBhungane that Transnet crane suppliers were paying off the Guptas to get their contracts.

The tipster said: “The cranes that are being supplied to the ports from [Shanghai Zhenhua] are with Guptas. Ask Liebherr. While they were the preferred supplier, they were approached by Guptas to do a deal who then referred them to their local [black economic empowerment] partners, who in turn spoke to [then Public Enterprises Minister] Malusi Gigaba. By then Guptas had done a deal with [Shanghai Zhenhua].”

Days before the tipoff, Gigaba and then Transnet CEO Brian Molefe had stood side-by-side, grinning behind a giant red ribbon, which Gigaba cut in presentation of seven new Shanghai Zhenhua cranes for South Africa.

On the day, Molefe told reporters the tender was “transparent”.

Molefe later moved to Eskom, which he recently left in disgrace after evidence emerged that he courted the Guptas while Eskom and Transnet closed allegedly dirty deals for the Guptas.

On Saturday, Transnet spokeswoman Viwe Tlaleane said: “The company is conducting its own internal enquiry and will investigate all allegations made. Where appropriate, it will enlist the services of independent experts, depending on the required expertise”.

Liebherr executive Dieter Schmid said: “I can assure you that Liebherr has never had an ‘extensive and direct relationship with the Guptas for years’ as alleged in your e-mail.” But he said the company was “still putting the pieces together” and needed more time.

Shanghai Zhenhua did not respond to questions.

Paying to play

As was claimed by amaBhungane’s tipster, Liebherr’s Gupta payments were indeed preceded by roughly R55-million from the Chinese. In September 2011, Transnet announced that Shanghai Zhenhua would build, deliver and commission seven tandem-lift ship-to-shore cranes for the container terminal at Durban harbour.

According to Transnet documents obtained by amaBhungane, it would pay Shanghai Zhenhua $92-million (about R1.2-billion today) for the job.

Three months later, money started to flow to the Guptas.

Shanghai Zhenhua paid the first tranche of US$969 086 (R12.6-million) that December. According to the Guptas’ accounting records, it went to a United Arab Emirates-registered company called JJ Trading.

JJ Trading has also featured prominently in another Transnet kickback scheme. The #GuptaLeaks reveal China South Rail entered into a “consulting” agreement with JJ Trading, related to Transnet’s 2013 locomotive tender, and paid JJ Trading over US$107-million (R1.4-billion).

• Read the Transnet-related #GuptaLeaks here.

For every tranche of cash received from Shanghai Zhenhua, JJ Trading transferred exactly 4% to a person called “David”, sometimes as cash. The rest flowed to Gupta front companies in the UAE and South Africa.

For example, at the end of January 2013, Shanghai Zhenhua paid US$1.2-million (R15.6-million) to JJ Trading.

Within days, JJ Trading paid US$743 815 (R9.7-million) to Global Corporation LLC’s National Bank of Abu Dhabi account. Global is beneficially a Gupta company. JJ Trading paid another US$256 130 (R3.3-million) to Global’s US Dollar account at Standard Chartered.

In all, Shanghai Zhenhua paid at least US$4.2-million (R54.6-milion) to JJ Trading over 14 months, of which 15% stayed with JJ, 4% was paid to “David”, and the rest went on to the Guptas.

The records also reveal how a confidential Transnet document, related to the subsequent tender for 22 cranes that Liebherr won, had been leaked to the Guptas. It is not clear how, but a top Gupta executive then emailed the document to an Indian national associated with JJ Trading.

Déjà vu

This is not the first time Liebherr has popped up on amaBhungane’s radar.

Last October, amaBhungane linked Liebherr to another apparent Transnet kickback scheme.

AmaBhungane’s investigation revealed that in March 2015, Burlington – a subsidiary of advisory firm Regiments Capital – signed a R5-million contract with Liebherr-Africa to provide it with “market feasibility studies” in relation to the supply of cranes to Transnet.

Liebherr made a R2-million down payment to Burlington, which paid exactly 90% straight on to a Gupta front, Homix.

At the time, Liebherr told amaBhungane that Homix was unknown to it.

It is now clear that Liebherr’s R2-million laundered to Homix was just the tip of the iceberg. The #GuptaLeaks reveal that the family received roughly *$4.2-million (R55-million)* from Liebherr over the course of a year and a half.

Bank records show that in July 2013 Liebherr paid US$905 000 (R11.8-million) to another of the Guptas’ UAE front companies, Accurate Investments.

If Accurate sounds familiar, that is because the Guptas also used it to launder the Free State government’s money to pay for their niece’s notorious Sun City wedding.

On 17 February 2014 – the same day that Liebherr announced it had scored the 22-crane Transnet contract – Liebherr paid Accurate another US$202 008 (R2.6-million).

Liebherr’s cash lands in the US

Although the South African Revenue Service, Hawks and National Prosecuting Authority remain unmoved by the #GuptaLeaks revelations, the shadow of US regulators potentially looms large .

• Read “The Almighty Dollar”

A significant portion of Liebherr’s cash transferred to Accurate was quickly passed along to relatives of the Guptas in the US.

In May 2014, Liebherr made three more payments to Accurate totalling US$1 105 368 (R14.4-million).

On 28 May 2014, two days after Liebherr’s last wire hit Accurate’s account, Accurate bundled Liebherr’s money with other funds and wired it all to Brookfield Consultants Inc in the US.

According to its website, Brookfield specialises in healthcare consulting.

Records obtained by amaBhungane show that Brookfield, incorporated in Texas, is managed by Ashish and Amol Gupta. In correspondence Ashish and Amol Gupta refer to Rajesh “Tony” Gupta as “Respected Tony Uncle”.

Documents contained in the #GuptaLeaks reveal that Ashish and Amol Gupta were respectively 27 and 23 years old at the time Accurate transferred Liebherr’s cash to Brookfield’s account at JPMorgan Chase Bank in New York.

Neither Ashish nor Amol Gupta, nor their father Ramesh, who provided Tony Gupta with Brookfield’s bank account information, responded to any of amaBhungane’s attempts to contact them.

The ever-expanding feeding trough

We have seen no specific evidence of Transnet rigging the crane tenders to favour Liebherr and Shanghai Zhenhua.

However, the payments to offshore Gupta fronts and contemporaneous contract awards trace a Transnet tender pattern that is now well known. Liebherr and Shanghai Zhenhua bring the number of Transnet contractors who have paid the Guptas or partnered with their companies to seven.

SAP: Last week, amaBhungane and Scorpio revealed that German software multinational SAP paid R100-million to Gupta-linked CAD House.

Despite strident denials of wrongdoing from SAP’s local managing director following these revelations, SAP’s international headquarters quickly suspended four South African executives and announced it had hired US law firm Baker McKenzie to investigate.

China South Rail: Last month, amaBhungane and Scorpio exposed a R5.3-billion kickback contract between China South Rail (CSR) and a Gupta company in Hong Kong, after CSR won contracts worth roughly R25-billion to supply Transnet with locomotives.

The contract and other #GuptaLeaks accounting records describe how CSR initially paid JJ Trading and a related Dubai company $124-million (more than R1.6-billion) kickbacks for these contracts. The funds were passed on to Gupta companies.

Recall that Shanghai Zhenhua also paid JJ Trading before the money flowed to the Guptas. In light of the CSR kickback documents, it is possible that similar agreements underlie Shanghai Zhenhua and Liebherr’s crane contracts.

McKinsey: Last year, amaBhungane reported how global consultancy McKinsey won Transnet contracts that were gradually ceded to Regiments Capital and the Gupta-linked group Trillian, which marched off with Transnet contracts worth at least R484-million. Regiments in turn paid R84-million to the Gupta front Homix.

A recent investigation by Advocate Geoff Budlender exposed how McKinsey partnered with Trillian, in a “sham” contract that would milk Eskom.

Neotel: In 2015, amaBhungane exposed how telecoms firm Neotel paid tens of millions of rands in “commissions” to Homix to clinch deals worth more than R2-billion from Transnet.

T-Systems: Questions have also been raised about German IT company T-Systems’ contracts with Transnet and Eskom. T-Systems’ supplier development partner Sechaba Computer Services also paidHomix.

Former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe and CFO Anoj Singh were in charge through most of this. They moved together to Eskom in 2015, where more questionable Gupta deals have been publicly identified.

The investigations multiply

This week, Transnet was the latest company to promise an investigation.

Spokeswoman Viwe Tlaleane told amaBhungane: “Transnet notes recent reports based on leaked emails.

“Some of these reports cast aspersions on the integrity of the company’s governance processes, especially relating to procurement. Transnet views good governance and the integrity of its processes seriously. In this regard, we have put in place various measures to safeguard this integrity. Any breach or allegation of breach is viewed in a serious light.

“Transnet did not make any payments to third parties and has no knowledge of the alleged transactions. Part of the company’s investigation entails approaching suppliers for their perspective on the allegations.

“Should any actionable facts arise, remedial action will be taken.”

KPMG see no evil – Part 2KPMG see no evil – Part 2

For the second time, the #GuptaLeaks show what look like kickbacks flowing into a Gupta company audited by KPMG.

AmaBhungane recently reported how, in the 2014 financial year, public money meant for a community dairy in the Free State was circulated offshore before being channelled through Accurate Investments in Dubai to Linkway in South Africa.

Both companies are Gupta-owned, and KPMG audited Linkway at the time.

The Guptas used some of dairy money to pay for their now notorious Sun City wedding, which KPMG allowed them to write off as a business expense.

To justify this tax write-off, KPMG later claimed that, based on facts known to it, Accurate was not a Gupta company but was “related to” the father of the Sun City bride.

AmaBhungane has yet to discover anything among the millions of pages of documents contained in the #GuptaLeaks to support this.

Crane manufacturer Liebherr’s cash followed the same trail.

Liebherr sent the money to Accurate in Dubai, where it was quickly bundled with other funds flowing through the Guptas’ Dubai bank accounts and, in part, laundered to South Africa.

In one instance – on 25 February 2014 – Accurate wired money to the Guptas’ Linkway Trading [link 140227 Email Linkway Consultancy Payment to Accurate.pdf] purportedly for “consulting” services.

KPMG did not respond to amaBhungane’s questions about Accurate’s popping up yet again in Linkway’s accounts.

In sum – during the financial year ending 28 February 2014 – funds originating from at least two government entities, the Free State and Transnet, were laundered via Accurate in the UAE to Linkway on KPMG’s watch.

KPMG previously said: “We stand by our audit opinion issued.”

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

• Scorpio is the Daily Maverick’s new investigative unit. If you’d like to support its work, click here.
• 

Duduzane’s profession on the coveted residency is listed as “investor” and his sponsor “Lion Gate Electronics Trading”.

The permit was issued on October 10, 2015 and expires on October 4, 2018. It was issued a few months before two letters which appear to have been drafted on behalf of President Zuma were circulated between Tony Gupta to Sahara CEO, Ashu Chawla and Duduzane Zuma.

Leaked emails have also revealed that two months later, in December 2015, Duduzane, with the help of the Gupta family, bought an R18 million apartment situated in Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Duduzane, through Wens Holdings Ltd, co-owned with the Gupta family and registered in Dubai bought the luxury apartment.

The unsigned letters, which were written in January 2016, were addressed to “His Highness Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan” and “His Highness Vice President and Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Moktoum”.

Both letters heap praise on the leaders and request their “guidance” with regard to making the UAE a second home.

“I fondly remember our meeting in the UAE [United Arab Emirates] and the gracious hospitality and warmth extended to me during my visit. It is with this sentiment that I am happy to inform you that my family has decided to make the UAE a second home.

“It will be a great honour for me and my family to gain your patronage during our proposed residency in the UAE,” reads one of the letters penned by the Guptas on Zuma’s behalf. Two months later, Zuma visited Dubai as a last-minute stop-over during his visit to Saudi Arabia. At this meeting the President met Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to reportedly discuss a “number of regional issues”.

After the revelations President Zuma through his spokesperson, Bongani Nqulunga, denied that he had any intention of living anywhere else.

“I have my home in Nkandla and I have no intention of living anywhere else. When I retire I will go home to Nkandla. This is a pure fabrication. Duduzane has never spoken to me about living in any other country. He has never shown me any letter. It’s shocking in the extreme. It’s absolute mischief aimed at sowing confusion”.

Obtaining the coveted residency of the UAE is not easy. The first option requires the applicant to have purchased a property valued at no less than 1 million dirhams. This option does not require the applicant to register a company.

In this instance the residency visa is only valid for two years and does not grant the right to work in the UAE.

The second option requires the registration of a company in one of the Free Trade Zones in the UAE. It enables the applicant, as a shareholder of the company, to apply for residency.

This type of visa is valid for three years. In Duduzane Zuma’s case this is the type of residency he appears to have gained. Emails to Duduzane Zuma with regard to his residency have remained unanswered.

Gordhan’s replacement was Malusi Gigaba, who inevitably stands under a cloud of suspicion. Thanks to a leaked trove of data from the heart of the Gupta empire, the cloud is growing heavier.

The #GuptaLeaks reveal new evidence that immigration officials may have been captured by the Guptas – including two who were specially positioned in India by Malusi Gigaba’s office when he was home affairs minister.

E-mails show how senior Gupta employee Ashu Chawla repeatedly asked these two and other officials to fast-track visas to benefit Gupta businesses as they moved dozens of employees, associates and family members between South Africa, India and Dubai.

Previous evidence of Gigaba and his advisers’ relations with the Guptas have raised suspicions. These were underscored when President Jacob Zuma – who is close to the Guptas – controversially appointed Gigaba as finance minister in March.

In a string of e-mails, a home affairs official says Gigaba had signed an “instruction” for the two officials to be moved to offices in Mumbai and New Delhi respectively. However, Gigaba’s actual signed letter was not attached to the #GuptaLeaks e-mail.

At least one of the two officials already had a long-standing relationship with the Guptas and their lieutenant, Chawla, through private business projects and having apparently helped with visas in the past.

Chief among Chawla’s contacts in home affairs was one Major Kobese, a music producer and director in home affairs’ foreign office.

Chawla appeared to have Kobese at his beck and call, often asking him to iron out visa troubles. In a number of e-mails, Kobese berated officials for not arranging visas for Chawla, or for not arranging them fast enough – then he forwarded these internal communications to Chawla, suggesting their relationship was closer than arm’s length.

For example, Kobese wrote to an embassy official and complained that she demanded “additional requirements” of a group of nine business people and delayed their trip.

He said: “Please note that, these are not just ordinary travelers but are important business people. We are requesting that you accept the applications from their representative and finalise them today.”

Then he brought in Gigaba: “I have copied the minister’s office on this e-mail, for purposes of feedback.” Two minutes later, Kobese forwarded his comments to the Guptas’ man, Chawla.

In another e-mail, Kobese asks officials to “please assist in clearing the issue of bank statements requirements” for a visa applicant. “Please accept the bank statement of SAHARA as a proof of financial means as the people who are invited by them will be covered by the company.”

Sahara Computers is a Gupta-owned firm where Chawla works. Kobese copied Chawla on this e-mail.

Reversing the flow of goodwill, Kobese sent songs he produced to Chawla, in the hope that they would be used on TV. In one e-mail, he said:
“I read on yesterday’s paper that your guys on ANN7 [the Guptas’ TV station] are working on second season of I Am a South African. I think this song will fit the concept of this program. Please listen to it and give me feedback.”

Chawla dutifully sent the message and the song to managers at ANN7.

Kobese appeared to be central to Gigaba’s two Indian office appointments late in 2015. The officials were Gideon Christians and a “Ms Munyadziwa”.

According to a CV in the file, Christians had worked in immigration for 20 years. In 2008, he moved to SA’s high commission in New Delhi. He stayed in India until 2014 when he moved to Cape Town International Airport as an assistant director in immigration.
Over those years, Christians built a relationship with Chawla and the Guptas.

For example, in 2011, Christians e-mailed a South African third party’s offer to sell “A Grade Coal” to Chawla and another Gupta executive. A month later, Christians sent Chawla a coal sale and purchase agreement with prospective Chinese buyers, “as per my meeting with Mr. Gupta yesterday”.

Chawla and Christians’ relationship grew, with Chawla helping Christians to let his Cape Town property and later to import a motorbike from India.

Meanwhile, Chawla sent Christians many requests for expedited visa approvals. When the Guptas prepared to launch ANN7 in 2013, the flow of e-mails was particularly strong as the new TV station sought to employ Indian nationals in South Africa.

In one e-mail, Chawla told Christians: “As you know we are launching TV on 9th August so we need some more urgent visas to get the project running on time. Maybe I will request more in couple of days. Can you help me to get the below visa done today.”

Then Chawla e-mailed Christians the brand new ANN7 website address. Christian responded: “Nice one biya.” Chawla responded: “Thanks for all the continuous support.”

On another occasion, a Gupta associate wrote to Chawla and Tony Gupta. The associate explained that his colleague had been banned from visiting South Africa after officials found he had sent “fraudulent” immigration documents.

Chawla was asked to “please help in taking this ban removed, I did speak to Tonyji [apparently Tony Gupta] and he thus instructed me to take this up with you [sic]”.
Chawla promptly forwarded the message to Christians. It is not clear what became of the matter.

In another e-mail, Christians sent his CV to Chawla and wrote: “Attached please find as discussed… Please let me know what is going on……Why do you need this??”

The answer was not clear, but Christians sent an updated CV a year later and in October 2015, one of Gigaba’s ministry staffers sent an “approved submission for Strategic

Re-deployment of Officials in Missions”. The document is not available, but subsequent e-mails indicate that Gigaba had approved the transfer of Christians and “Ms Munyadziwa” to missions in New Delhi and Mumbai, respectively.

But officials pushed back. One suggested they were in the dark about the appointments and others explained that there were no vacancies and no budget for the Christians and Munyadziwa appointments.

Chawla’s contact Kobese tried to persuade them otherwise, but he slipped in that “this deployment was done outside the normal recruitment process”.

Eventually Kobese took a stern tone with his colleagues:
“Please note that a decision has been taken by Minister [Gigaba] to deploy both Mr Christians and Ms Munyadziwa… It is my understanding that Minister has issued an instruction and not an opinion or recommendation. Our role is to carry the Minister’s instruction… All we working on at [the foreign office] is to ensure that Minister’s instruction is realized within a short-space of time. … We have no authority to do contrary to what Minister has instructed.”

Separately, both Kobese and Christians forwarded the correspondence to Chawla, outside of the department.

Christians wrote: “Bhiya. Someone sent this to me unofficially … seems there is a fight with HR and [the foreign office] to issue the letter to me… The other issue is the security clearance…
Call me when you can.”

It is not clear if Christians was seeking Chawla’s intervention, however an online report suggests Christians was based at the SA High Commission in New Delhi a year later.

We were not able to positively identify “Ms Munyadziwa”, however the #GuptaLeaks reveal that one Khathu Munyadziwa was in Mumbai by December 2015, when Chawla e-mailed her.

He provided a list of names and passport numbers and said: “Hi Khathu. I hope you doing well and enjoying Mumbai. There visas were submitted today and get it ready tomorrow and send it back to VFS. Thanks Ashu.” [sic]

After her polite response, Ashu wrote again: “Dear Ms Kathu. Thanks for the prompt response. Please make sure it should be done tomorrow. Thanks Ashu.”

And less than 24 hours later: “Dear Ms Khathu. Good Afternoon. Can you please advise me on visa status for below. Thanks Ashu.”

Reporting on the #GuptaLeaks this week, Times Media Group published that when Gigaba was home affairs minister, his adviser Thamsanqa Msomi pressured officials to help Gupta associates get visas.

Further #GuptaLeaks files reveal that, in February 2016, Chawla arranged to fly Msomi to Dubai and put him up at the luxurious Oberoi Hotel for a few days. The Guptas have hosted numerous senior South African officials and politicians at the Oberoi, the #GuptaLeaks reveal.

Chawla also leaned on Gigaba – in a letter addressed to the minister but sent to adviser Msomi, now also a Denel director – to try to get South African citizenship for three members of the Gupta family, including Ajay Gupta’s son.

Chawla’s letter, addressed to “The Honourable Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, South Africa”, read:

“Request you to reconsider the application which has been rejected by home affairs due to the fact that some of his family members have already acquired South African Citizenship and they have successful business running in South Africa.”

It is not clear if Gigaba reconsidered.

• No one named in this story was contacted for comment. This is permitted by the South African Press Code in a situation where a publication “has reasonable grounds for believing that by doing so it would be prevented from reporting”. We invite those named in this article to provide us with comment and clarification after publication.

Last month Koko stood down as acting chief executive and went “on leave” pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations that he channelled lucrative contracts to a company partly owned by his 26-year-old stepdaughter.

Now the #GuptaLeaks provide further evidence of a cosy relationship with the Saxonwold family too.

Leaked e-mails now show that:

• In December 2015 the Guptas’ Tegeta Exploration and Resources lobbied Koko for a massive R1.68-billion prepayment, which would have allowed it to fund much of the Optimum Coal acquisition. While this appears not to have happened, it is known that Koko headed up a late-night meeting in April 2016 that approved a smaller, R659-million prepayment.
• Koko may have leaked a highly-sensitive Eskom legal opinion to the Guptas, and,
• Koko stayed in a luxury Dubai hotel at the Guptas’ expense.

‘The Boss’

In November 2015, the Guptas were in negotiation to buy Optimum Coal, but despite Optimum’s dire financial state, the mine’s owner, Glencore, was reluctant to sell.

On November 3, the business rescue practitioners who had been placed in charge in the struggling mine wrote to Koko, at the time Eskom group executive for generation.

They informed Koko that if Eskom did not make a reasonable offer to renegotiate their loss-making coal contract, they would have to consider liquidating the company.

Two days later, Koko wrote back full of vitriol, threatening to seek intervention from the department of mineral resources. Eskom, he warned, may be forced “to review the engagement with Glencore from a portfolio perspective” unless the business rescue practitioners concluded a deal.

What the #GuptaLeaks now show is that on November 4 and 5, the Guptas, who were offering to buy Optimum from Glencore, were right in the thick of the action.

Late at night on November 4, two e-mails were sent from the e-mail address matshela2010@yahoo.com. Both e-mails bounced through two anonymous e-mail addresses, identified only as “Business Man” and “Western”, before landing up with Gupta lieutenant Ashu Chawla.

Like other e-mail providers, Yahoo does not reveal the identity of its users. However, the content of the e-mails makes it clear that they either came from Koko or from someone similarly senior at Eskom.

The first e-mail was sent at 10.39pm with the message: “Please give the Boss. The fight begins”. Attached was a confidential correspondence between Eskom and one of the Guptas’ competitors.

The second e-mail was sent at 11.46pm. This one contained a legal opinion that Eskom received from its own legal counsel – Eskom wanted to know two things: Could a court remove Optimum’s business rescue practitioners? And could Eskom force Optimum to keep delivering coal at the loss-making price of R150/ton, now that the mine had been placed in business rescue?

The legal opinion warned that Eskom was in a weak bargaining position, especially considering that “Eskom currently had no supply of coal; has not considered and/or identified an alternative supply…”

Eskom’s lawyers advised the executives to negotiate with Glencore.

The last thing any responsible Eskom executive would want is for a sensitive legal opinion like this to fall into the hands of the company that was in negotiations to buy the mine from Glencore.

But whoever “Matshela2010” is, he or she delivered the damning legal opinion to the Guptas.
By 10.05am the following morning, the Guptas had both the Eskom legal opinion as well a draft of Koko’s vitriolic letter that he would later send to Optimum’s business rescue practitioners.

It’s not clear how the Guptas received Koko’s letter, still in draft format – all the #GuptaLeaks shows is that the letter came from Rajesh “Tony” Gupta’s e-mail account.
Within days of Koko’s letter being sent, the business rescue practitioners agreed to enter formal negotiations with the Guptas.

The R1.68-billion prepayment

A month later, Glencore had agreed to sell and the Guptas’ Tegeta was about to enter the mining major league – but only if it could come up with the R2.15-billion purchase price for Optimum Coal.

The #GuptaLeaks now reveal that the Guptas planned to fund much of the acquisition from Eskom’s books using a R1.68-billion prepayment from Eskom against future coal deliveries from Optimum.

Correspondence between Koko, Tegeta chief executive Ravindra Nath and Tony Gupta shows that on December 9, 2015, Tegeta wrote to Koko referring to a meeting where it appeared the prepayment had been agreed in principle.

In the letter the Tegeta boss confidently asks Koko “to kindly send us a written confirmation regarding the payment for supply of coal amounting to R1,680,000,000 … detailing the agreed terms and conditions”.

Tegeta even attached their lawyer’s banking details, apparently convinced the prepayment was a done deal.

• Read the letter here or via Dropbox here.

The exchange took place even before Tegeta announced on December 11 that it had signed a deal to buy Optimum for R2.15-billion – in other words, it appears Tegeta planned to fund its acquisition of a major coal mine in part by pre-selling coal from the mine it did not yet own.

It is not clear why Eskom appears not to have followed through, but it is now well-known that four months later, Koko headed a late-night special tender committee meeting that gifted Tegeta the final R659-million prepayment it needed to finalise the Optimum Coal acquisition.

The spectre of load-shedding

In June 2016, when Koko was first confronted about the prepayment during an interview with Carte Blanche, he initially denied that any prepayment had been made, then changed tack, saying: “I’m not aware that it’s paid. But in the event that it’s paid, it’s not unusual,” adding: “Let’s say I’ve made a mistake.”

Since then Koko, Molefe and Eskom board chair Ben Ngubane have spun a story that the prepayment to Tegeta was necessary to avert load shedding during winter.

In countless statements, Eskom has detailed how ongoing threats of strikes left their power stations short of coal, and by April Eskom’s only option was to offer a prepayment to Tegeta to be spent on equipment and opening up new mining areas.

But the emergence of Tegeta’s December 9 letter to Koko, asking for a prepayment four months earlier, confirms what has long been suspected: that the primary objective was to use Eskom’s balance sheet to fund the Guptas’ purchase of Optimum Coal.

Two days in Dubai

In January last year, just a few days after Tegeta took possession of Optimum, Koko allegedly flew to Dubai. Records from the #GuptaLeaks show that Koko stayed just two nights at the Oberoi Hotel in Dubai – Monday 4 and Tuesday 5, at a total cost of around R11,500. The bill was picked up by the Guptas.

In the months following Koko’s brief stopover in Dubai, Gupta-owned companies benefited from astonishing growth of their business with Eskom:

• In January 2016, Eskom dished out a lucrative “emergency” coal contract that saw Tegeta supplying coal at upwards of R470/ton to Arnot power station for nine months.
• In April 2016, Eskom handed Tegeta the R659-million prepayment.
• In August 2016, Eskom tried to sign three contracts worth R10.5-billion with Tegeta in the space of a few weeks without following a competitive bidding process – the two smaller contracts were blocked by Treasury but Tegeta received a R7-billion contract to supply Komati power station.

During 2016 Trillian, a company majority-owned by Gupta associate Salim Essa, is alleged to have benefited from hundreds of millions of rands in Eskom consulting work.

• Persons named in this story were not contacted for comment. This is permitted by the South African Press Code in a situation where a publication “has reasonable grounds for believing that by doing so it would be prevented from reporting”. We invite those named in this article to provide us with comment and clarification after publication.

In a scheme so audacious and lucrative that it puts the notorious arms deal to shame, they:

• Entered kickback agreements totalling R5.3-billion with the Chinese manufacturer that became Transnet’s favourite locomotive supplier;
• Influenced procurement processes through their associates at Transnet;
• Are pocketing R10-million from each R50-million locomotive that Transnet is buying.
  

This story presents the most direct evidence yet of the Guptas and their associates amassing fortunes offshore by tolling contracts at state-owned entities they control.