Estina dairy farm: R37.7m fraud case against Gupta associates postponed to May

The Pretoria Magistrate’s Court has postponed the R37.7 million fraud case of two associates of the Gupta brothers to 10 May for a pre-trial conference.

The spokesperson for NPA’s Investigative Directorate (ID), Sindisiwe Seboka, confirmed the postponement on Wednesday after former Estina director Kamal Vasram and his co-accused, Saliesh Indurjeeth, appeared briefly in court.

Last month, the matter was postponed for the disclosing of the case docket as well as for their attorneys’ financial instructions and instructions on the merits of the case.

Failed Estina project

Vasram and Indurjeeth face charges linked to the failed Estina project in the Free State.

The project, which was marred by allegations of corruption and money laundering, was a joint private-public project between the Free State Department of Agriculture and Gupta-controlled company, Estina.

The pair were charged with fraud, contravention of Section 54(1)(A) of the International Trade Administration Act and contravention of Regulation 22 of the Exchange Control Act.

The charges against them were a result of a joint investigation by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and the ID.

Seboka said: “The investigation revealed that Estina submitted customs clearance documents (SAD 500 and invoice), in support of a VAT refund claim. The customs declaration was then scrutinised 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 pasteurisation plant, which was imported from India, was rather invoiced to Estina by Gateway Limited in the United Arab Emirates.”

Money laundering

Seboka said evidence that was already in the public domain suggested that Gateway was used and controlled by the Guptas, as a conduit to launder money and to extract funds from South Africa.

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

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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