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S. Africa's Public Protector requested to probe Gupta family

Xinhua, March 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has been requested to conduct a systemic investigation into the alleged involvement of the Indian Gupta family in the country's state affairs.

A group of Catholic priests and brothers in Southern Africa, known as the Dominican Order, have requested Madonsela to investigate allegations that South African Deputy Minister of Finance Mcebisi Jonas, and former Member of Parliament Vytjie Mentor were offered cabinet positions by the Gupta family in exchange for favourable executive decisions and beneficial business interests, the Public Protector's office said Friday.

Madonsela was also requested to investigate whether the appointment of David Van Rooyen as finance minister by President Jacob Zuma last December was known beforehand by the Gupta family as has been alleged, said the office.

Zuma appointed Van Rooyen, a largely unknown MP to replace Nene, a move that wrecked havoc on the financial market. Days later, Zuma fired Van Rooyen and replaced him with Pravin Gordhan.

The Dominican Order also asked the Public Protector to look into all business dealings of the Gupta family with any of the government departments to determine whether there were irregularities, undue enrichment, corruption and undue influence in the award of tenders, mining licenses, and any other government services, according to the office.

The complaint will be subjected to the Public Protector's standard assessment process, which seeks to establish if the Public Protector has jurisdiction to investigate the allegations and also to ascertain if there is any merit to the claims, the office said.

The assessment process takes up to five working days. Only after this process, will the Public Protector be in a position to make a decision on whether or not the matter will be investigated, it said.

Over the last couple of days, a number of reports have surfaced in the media, alleging inappropriate and undue influence by the Gupta family over the appointment of cabinet ministers.

This is not the first time that the Guptas, who have close ties with Zuma, his family and other African National Congress (ANC) leaders, have allegedly tried to influence cabinet appointments. Enditem