Global Citizen July 9, 2018 PREMIUM FREE TRIAL

Duduzane Zuma in shackles at court: SA’s Operation Car Wash FINALLY gets going.

JOHANNESBURG — Throughout 2017, we at BizNews spoke of how South Africa faced the prospect of having its very own ‘Operation Car Wash‘ amid the bombshell Gupta email leaks and other revelations of state capture and corruption. Operation Car Wash is, of course, an ongoing criminal investigation being carried out by the Federal Police of Brazil into a massive political money laundering scandal in that country in which around 160 people have been arrested so far.  It’s taken some time for the same type of event to get going here in SA, but on Monday, 9 July 2018 the process finally shifted into first gear as the first high-profile suspect, Duduzane Zuma, appeared in shackles around his feet at the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court. And as News24 reported, he’s been “charged with corruption, alternatively conspiracy to commit corruption, relating to an alleged R600m offer made to former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas in 2015 by Ajay Gupta, in Zuma’s presence”. But he will also appear in court later this week for a separate case of culpable homicide. – Gareth van Zyl

DA welcomes charges of corruption against Duduzane Zuma

Issued by David Maynier MP – DA Shadow Minister of Finance

We welcome the fact that Duduzane Zuma has finally been charged with corruption for his alleged role in trying to bribe former Deputy Minister of Finance Mcebisi Jonas in 2015.

We laid the charges of corruption against Atul Gupta, Ajay Gupta and Duduzane Zuma, in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (No. 12 of 2004), on 17 March 2016 at a police station in Cape Town [CAS 1200/3/2016].

Duduzane Zuma
Duduzane Zuma

We did so following a public statement by the former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mcebisi Jonas, on 16 March 2016, where he alleged that members of the Gupta family had offered him the position of Finance Minister, prior to the firing of the former Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene, on 09 December 2015.

We hope that once this matter has been fully investigated that Atul Gupta and Ajay Gupta will also be charged with corruption for their alleged role in trying to bribe former Deputy Minister of Finance Mcebisi Jonas in 2015.

We would be in a very different place today has the alleged plot to capture National Treasury succeeded in South Africa.

By Loni Prinsloo

(Bloomberg) — The son of South Africa’s ex-President Jacob Zuma will appear in two separate court cases this week after returning to the country to attend his brother’s funeral, adding to the controversy around the former ruling family’s activities.

Duduzane Zuma, 34, has been asked to appear in the Specialized Commercial Crimes Court in Johannesburg on Monday, his lawyer Rudi Krause said by phone on Sunday.

The Sunday Times newspaper reported that a special police unit known as the Hawks was preparing corruption charges against the former president’s son for his role in the attempted bribing of the country’s former Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas.

“At this point in time we do not know what the case relates to,” Krause said. Neither Duduzane Zuma nor his lawyer has further responded to the accusations yet.

Duduzane Zuma is a business partner of the Gupta family, headed by three brothers, who left South Africa earlier this year after being accused of using their political connections to influence government decisions and loot state coffers. Jacob Zuma and the Guptas have denied any wrongdoing.

The former president’s son has also been summoned to appear in court on July 12, for culpable homicide, according to his attorneys. The case relates to a car accident in 2014 in which Zuma’s Porsche collided with a minibus taxi, resulting in the death of a passenger.

Gareth van Zyl | , ,
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