Former Estina Director Arrested On R37.7 Million Fraud Charges
The Pretoria Regional Court granted bail of R10 000 each to two associates of the Gupta brothers, Kamal Vasram and Saliesh Indurjeeth who are directly linked to the failed Estina project. The duo was arrested last night and appeared in court this morning. The matter has been postponed to 11 February 2022. They face charges of Fraud, Contravention of Section 54(1)(A) of the International Trade Administration Act and Contravention of Regulation 22 of the Exchange Control Act.
One of the suspects was the sole director of Estina during the commission of the alleged offences. The arrest follows an investigation by SARS and the NPA’s Investigating Directorate (ID) into the affairs of the Estina Dairy Project. The investigation established that Estina 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 rather invoiced to Estina by Gateway Limited in the United Arab Emirates. Evidence that is already in the public domain suggests that Gateway was used and controlled by the Guptas, as a conduit to launder money and to extract funds from South Africa.
This observation led to a joint investigation between SARS and the ID, in the spirit of co-operative governance and collaboration, as provided for in terms of Section 41 of the Constitution of South Africa.
The state further alleges that 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 tax paying public in general.
The Commissioner for SARS, Mr Edward Kieswetter and ID Director Advocate Hermione Cronje expressed their satisfaction with the inroads made into this state capture investigation.
Kind regards,
Siphithi Sibeko
SARS
Head of Communications
072 381 5139
Sindisiwe Seboka
NPA ID National Spokesperson
066 265 9591