Atul Gupta brags he has so much money, he couldn’t spend it all

One of the Gupta brothers, Atul, allegedly bragged to British public relations firm Bell Pottinger about his wealth in a meeting with the firm.

Co-founder of the PR firm Lord Bell – who ditched his own firm last year – told BBC radio that Atul bragged about his wealth and flew them to Cape Town for lunch.

“Our first meeting was with Mr Atul Gupta. He was telling us how wonderful he is, how much money he has, he couldn’t even spend it all. He said he was a hero and that the country adores him.

“To show us his wealth he flew us to Cape Town for lunch in his private jet and in the evening we had a meeting and it became clear that what they wanted to do was to mount a campaign to encourage what you might call black economic empowerment. He never asked us about PR,” Bell said.

He said Atul felt that he was stopped from doing business “because he was a wrong colour” and that whites were the only race that could raise money in the country.

“That is why I think he wanted the campaign for economic emancipation. It would enable him to improve the position of his company.

“Our proposal to him suggested that we do various things, including organising people to march, make a fuss about how they got the vote in 1994 but no economic power,” he said.

Bell Pottinger is under investigation for inciting racial tension in South Africa after working with the controversial family to spread the message of “white monopoly capital”.

It has since dumped the Guptas but its problems are not yet over as the Democratic Alliance is expected to grill it at a hearing scheduled for August 18.

DA MP Phumzile Van Damme tweeted that the party was “looking forward” to the hearing.

The DA is working hard in preparation for the #BellPottinger hearing on 18 August. We are taking it very seriously. Look forward to it.

— Phumzile Van Damme (@zilevandamme) August 1, 2017

BBC radio also got a chance to interview Atul, who said the leaked Gupta emails that reveal how Bell Pottinger allegedly wrote speeches for some political formations were “not authentic”.

“On Gupta leaks, there is no authenticity; it’s perceptions to drive their own agenda,” he said.

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