[ad_1]
Paul Holden, director of investigations at London-based Shadow World Investigations, showed how the R280,202,652 paid by the Free State provincial government into the Guptas’ Estina account was distributed through various companies and bank accounts controlled by Gupta and the sick were paid. – Predestined dairy project. (Photo: Gallo Images / Fani Mahuntsi)
The Gupta company’s internal ledgers detailed ‘back and forth’, ‘smurfing’ and ‘cash firewalls’, revealing how South African taxpayers’ money was laundered through the international Guptas network, Paul said Holden, director of research in London. Investigations of the Shadow World.
The flow of money from the Estina Dairy project between various South African and foreign Gupta companies with at least 17 local and international bank accounts between them was presented to the Zondo commission on Thursday, December 3.
The Estina Dairy project was created as a source of income for the Gupta brothers while Mosebenzi Zwane was agricultural MEC under the then Prime Minister of the Free State, Ace Magashule.
No questions asked as millions flowed to the Estina dairy project
Presenting the evidence, Paul Holden, director of investigations at London-based Shadow World Investigations, showed how the Free State provincial government paid R280,202,652 into Guptas’s Estina account through various companies and bank accounts controlled by Gupta and paid in the unfortunate dairy project to make it look like there was a total of R880,345,365.83 moving through the account during the life of the project from 2012 to 2016.
This money laundering practice, known as “back and forth,” according to Holden, was to make it appear that an additional R600,142,713 had been invested in the project, when in fact, almost all the money came from the provincial government.
Holden said that only 3.1% or less of the R880 million that entered Estina’s account came from funds other than the provincial coffers of the Free State.
He said that when the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) requested the seizure of the Estina Dairy project assets, the appearance of R600 million in separate funds was used as a defense, as it was argued that the assets were not derived solely from the province of the Free State. government funds. The round trip money was also a means of claiming an additional investment in the Estina Dairy project.
The details of how the money was laundered through at least six companies, including offshore companies, each of which had multiple accounts, using banks such as First National Bank, State Bank India, Stanlib, Standard Chartered Bank and the Bank of Baroda in particular, they were derived from the treasure trove of emails known as #GuptaLeaks.
Attached to some of the retrieved emails were internal ledger spreadsheets revealing “round trip” money laundering practices, “smurfing” (paying money in smaller amounts to other companies within the same network property) and “cash firewalls” (the withdrawal of cash from one account which is then deposited into another account within the network).
The movement of money, which would otherwise have been almost invisible to external audits of companies, was corroborated by the Reserve Bank’s records of cross-border payments with Dubai, which were provided to the commission by the National Prosecutor’s Office.
To launder funds, the Gupta Company established an intricate network of companies registered in the names of Gupta’s family and associates, with each company opening numerous bank accounts.
Among those involved in the network are Ashu Chawla, director of Sahara Computers; Sanjay Grover, who became a corporate accountant for Gupta in Dubai; Rajesh Gupta; Shivani Gupta, wife of Gupta’s brother Ajay; Ashok Narayan, in charge of the Estina Dairy project; Ronica Raghavan; and Kamal Vasram, Director of Estina Pty Ltd.
They had several companies for the Guptas, through which money was laundered. These include UAE-registered Accurate Investments, Aerohaven Trading, offshore companies Fidelity Enterprises, which had shares in Tegeta Holdings and Tegeta Pty Ltd, UAE-based Gateway Limited, Dubai-based Global Corporation LLC, Linkway Trading, Oakbay and Vargafield.
Some of them, like Accurate Investments, were shell companies with no assets, expenses, or premises.
Holden, led by advocate Matthew Chaskalson, showed how of the R280 million paid to the Estina Dairy account (with an additional R7 million accrued through earned interest), only R21.7 million was paid for running costs. from the dairy or for wages. The rest, with the exception of R34.5 million paid to SARS for “VAT issues” ended up in Gupta’s overseas accounts after being “laundered three times in a circle” through some 17 bank accounts in three different currencies.
Much of the day was spent detailing the various people, businesses, and bank accounts involved, as well as Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, through the spreadsheets and visualizations that Holden had compiled using the internal ledgers of Gupta Leaks emails. Time was also spent providing the commission with bank account entries that corroborated the information in Gupta’s ledgers.
From the archives: amaBhungane & Scorpio #GuptaLeaks: The Dubai Laundromat – How Millions Milked From The Free State Government Paid For Sun City Wedding
The commission was informed how the provincial government’s money for the Estina Dairy ended up paying for the Gupta Wedding in Sun City. Holden tracked how Estina Pty Ltd paid just under $ 3 million ($ 2,999,975) to Gateway Limited in Dubai on September 5, 2013. Four days later, on September 9, Gateway Limited paid $ 1.4 million to Accurate Investments, that that same day he placed $ 1.3 million in the Linkway Trading account. The cost of the Sun City wedding, an amount of R30 million, was then invoiced to the Linkway Trading account. All of this was South African taxpayer money.
The commission is expected to hear more details about the money laundering of the Estina Dairy project on Friday, December 4. DM
