The Pretoria High Court today rejected Atul Gupta’s application to have his South African passport renewed for a further 10 years citing the fact that one of the three Gupta brothers – who ran away from South Africa in 2018, is a fugitive from justice.
Atul Kumar Gupta, together with his two brothers, Ajay and Toni, took residence in Dubai in the United Arab Emirate after fleeing South Africa shortly before a warrant for their arrest was issued in connection with the Vrede Dairy Farm project in 2018.
Atul Gupta was also charged with money laundering.
Gupta, who became a naturalist South African citizen in 2012 took his passport application challenge all the way to the Constitutional Court which refused to entertain it, not only because he was a fugitive from justice but also because he withheld the fact from the court.
And it was therefore, left to the Gauteng division of the Pretoria High Court to ascertain if indeed Gupta was a fugitive from justice.
The Minister of Home Affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi was cited as the 2nd Respondent in the matter.
Today a judgment was issued in favour of the Home Affairs’ decision not to grant Gupta a renewed South African passport which is expiring in 2023 after the court established that he was indeed a fugitive from justice .
Motsoaledi was on the radio this afternoon welcoming the court’s decision and saying the fugitive from justice – although he was naturalised as a South African in 2012 – cannot expect to enjoy the same rights as law abiding South Africans.
In his judgment Judge MP Kumalo said: “I must state from the outset that the evidence before this court suggests in no uncertain terms that the Applicant is indeed a fugitive from justice.
“The Respondents filed an affidavit deposed by Adv Cronje of the National Prosecuting Authority confirming that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of the Applicant albeit after his departure. To date, the Applicant has not set foot to this country although he allegedly owns property in this country.
“First Respondent in his answering affidavit, challenged the Applicant to indicate if he would be prepared to come to South Africa if this court were to order him to do so. The reply thereto, is in my view most telling. No such commitment that he would return was forthcoming. All he could state is that he will have to take legal advice on the issue.
“If he indeed is not a fugitive from justice, why would he need legal advice whether he ought to come to this country for whatever reason. This is more telling for a person who owns property and has owned businesses in this country.
“It may be so that the Applicant left South Africa before the warrant for his arrest was issued. However, when he left South Africa a number of issues were looming against him and his brothers and they featured prominently in the State Capture enquiry including the infamous Vrede Dairy Project.
“Interestingly the Applicant does not in both his founding and replying affidavits give a particular address in Dubai. All that he seems prepared to state is that he is a South African citizen resident in Dubai. Nothing further is disclosed, I am of the view that this is not an oversight on the Applicant’s side but was deliberate. He did not do it once but twice.
“Again the affidavit was commissioned by virtual link. The Respondents cannot be blade for assuming that all this was done to hide the Applicant’s whereabouts. All the above suggest the Applicant is a fugitive from justice”.
The Judge then ruled that based on the above Atul is a fugitive from justice and has no locus standi to approach the court for relief under the circumstances and that he must pay the cost of the application.