Former Estina director arrested on R37.7 million fraud charges

Former Estina Director Kamal Vasram was arrested on various fraud charges and Contravening the International Trade Administration Act and the Exchange Control Act on Monday night.

Vasram and his co-accused, Saliesh Indurjeeth, also a Gupta associate appeared at the Pretoria Regional Court on Tuesday morning.

They were granted bail of R10,000 each and their next court appearance is scheduled for 11 February 2022.

Estina project fraud charges

Sars and NPA investigation

Both men are directly linked to the failed Estina project, while Vasram served as Estina’s sole director at the time the alleged offences took place.

The arrest follows an investigation by SARS and the NPA’s Investigating Directorate (ID) into the affairs of the Estina Dairy Project.

Investigators discovered that Estina had submitted customs clearance documents (SAD 500 and invoice), in support of a VAT refund claim.

The customs declaration was then scrutinised and placed under the proverbial magnifying glass, whereupon the declared value of over R37,7 million for a so-called ‘new’ pasteurisation plant was suspected to be excessively high.

The suspected overpriced pasteurising plant, which was imported from India, was sold to Estina by Gateway Limited situated in the United Arab Emirates.

Gupta-linked Gateway Ltd involved

Evidence already in the public domain suggests that Gateway Limited was used and controlled by the Guptas, as a conduit to launder money and to extract funds from South Africa.

The state further alleges the overstated or inflated value was intentionally and unlawfully used by Estina and its sole director to launder funds from South Africa to the prejudice of the taxpaying public in general.

The Commissioner for SARS, Mr Edward Kieswetter and ID Director Adv Hermione Cronje expressed their satisfaction with the inroads made into this state capture investigation.

The case continues on 11 February.

Compiled by Narissa Subramoney

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