Credit: Youtube.com /  Indian businessmen, Ajay Gupta and younger brother Atul Gupta in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2011. The two men, along with their brother Rajesh, are wanted for charges of corruption in South Africa.

By Gary  Raynaldo /  DIPLOMATIC TIMES

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign AssetsControl (OFAC) sanctioned three brothers of the Gupta family and one of their associates for alleged bribery and overpayments on government contracts from the South African government.  OFAC designated Ajay Gupta, Atul Gupta, Rajesh Gupta, and Salim Essa for their involvement in corruption in South Africa pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.  The Gupta brothers have been linked to former South African President  Jacob Zuma in various corruption schemes. 

 “The Gupta family leveraged its political connections to engage in widespread corruption and bribery, capture government contracts, and misappropriate state assets.  Treasury’s designation targets the Guptas’ pay-to-play political patronage, which was orchestrated at the expense of the South African people,” said Sigal Mandelker, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.  “The Guptas and Essa have used their influence with prominent politicians and parties to line their pockets with ill-gotten gains.  We will continue to exclude from the U.S. financial system those who profit from corruption.”

-U.S. Department of the Treasury Statement 

Treasury Department Addresses U.S. National Security Matters Related to Africa

Credit: Wikipedia Commons /  Sigal P. Mandelker, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

“In South – related to South Africa, again, yesterday we sanctioned multiple members of the Gupta family, which has engaged in widespread corruption and bribery, won inflated government contracts, and misappropriated state assets.  The family has been implicated in a series of corrupt schemes, allegedly stealing hundreds of millions of dollars through illegal deals,”  Sigal P Mandelker, the under-secretary of the US treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence,  said during a tele-press conference on last Friday, a day after sanctions were announced.   When asked for specifics regarding the sanctions against the brothers,  Mandelker said:  “It’s not something we can comment on.”

Treasury Under Secretary Mandelker also discussed the U.S. national security matters related to Africa during the tele-press conference.   She noted that the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, took action  against a network of South Sudanese businessmen engaged in massive corruption that includes millions of dollars in bribery, kickbacks, and fraud.

“Kleptocrats around the world over have ruled with impunity and stolen from their people for decades because of individuals like those we have designated yesterday and today.  Such individuals use a combination of business and financial acumen and political bribery to prop up their patrons and hide the spoils of war.  Our role at the Treasury Department is to expose the action of those in power and prevent such kleptocrats and their facilitators from using the U.S. and global financial system to hide and clean their money.”

-Treasury Under Secretary Sigal  P. Mandelker

Madelker added that in a war-torn country like South Sudan, “such corruption and bribery undermines efforts to bring lasting peace.  Privileged elites cannot be allowed to profit from deaths, violence, and conflict while people suffer from their malfeasance.  The South Sudanese Government must take urgent measures to increase transparency and enforce accountability in the face of systemic corruption.”