R24.9 million Nulane Investment fraud case due back in court

The R24.9 million Nulane Investment case, one of the key state capture-related cases involving the Gupta brothers, is due back in the Bloemfontein High Court on Thursday.

Nulane Investment fraud case

The case pertains to procurement fraud involving R24.9 million paid between November 2011 and April 2012, by the Free State Department of Agriculture (FSDoA) to Nulane Investments, a company owned and controlled by alleged Gupta associate and former Transnet board member, Iqbal Sharma.

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The accused in the matter include Sharma, former Free State Department of Rural Development (FSDoRD) head Peter Thabethe; the former head of the FSDoA Limakatso Moorosi and the former FSDoA chief financial officer, Seipati Dhlamini.

The accused face charges of fraud and money laundering. The former government officials are also charged with contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.

Mohoma Mobung project

The National Prosecuting Authority‘s Investigating Directorate (ID) alleges the R24.9 million, which was paid to Nulane purportedly to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State’s flagship, Mohoma Mobung project, was diverted to Islandsite Investments, a Gupta-owned company.

The now infamous Estina dairy farm was one of the programmes included in the province’s Mohoma Mobung project.

In the charge sheet handed to the accused during the last court appearance, the State alleges that the group colluded to divert funds earmarked for rural development in the Free State and placed them at the disposal of the Gupta family.

“The R24.9 million was purportedly paid to Nulane to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State Province’s flagship Mohoma Mobung project, on the basis that Nulane had unique skills to perform the work.

“Nulane Investments, however, had no employees on its books and in fact subcontracted Deloitte Ltd to produce the report, for which Deloitte was paid R1.5 million.

“The only change made to the Deloitte report was to identify Paras diary as a suitable implementing partner for the development of a milk processing plant in Vrede,” said ID national spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka in a statement.

The trial in this matter is scheduled from 23 January to 3 March 2023.

Estina dairy farm scandal

Meanwhile, the corruption case against former Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane and his 16 co-accused on Wednesday was transferred to the Bloemfontein High Court and will be heard on 25 January 2023.

Zwane and his co-accused, including nine companies, appeared briefly in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court in connection with the controversial R280 million Estina dairy farm project in the Free State.

Zwane was the MEC for agriculture and rural development at the time of the project.

He faces charges of fraud, theft, corruption and money laundering along with his co-accused over the alleged looting of the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development through a company called Estina.

The accused

His co-accused include two alleged Gupta associates, former Sahara employee Ugeshni Govender and Ronica Ragavan, who is a former director of Gupta owned company, Islandsite Investments.

The other co-accused who were previously arrested in 2018 include – among others – Thabethe, Dlamini, the ex-Free State Agriculture acting head of the department Takisi Masiteng and the former sole director of Estina dairy farm, Kamal Vasram.

Earlier this year in June, alleged state capture fugitives Rajesh and Atul Gupta were arrested in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates after Interpol issued a red notice for them in connection with the Nulane Investment case.

The NPA still needs to make a compelling case for their extradition to ensure they finally face trial in South Africa.

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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