The United States yesterday announced sanctions on South Africa’s Gupta family and associate Salim Essa for their involvement in corruption that dispersed bribes and misappropriated millions in state funds. The sanctions were imposed by Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Ajay Gupta, Atul Gupta, Rajesh Gupta, and Salim Essa.
According to Siganal Mandelker , US Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, the Gupta family leveraged its political connections to engage in widespread corruption and bribery, capture government contracts, and misappropriate state assets. Treasury’s targets the Guptas’ pay-to-play political patronage, which was orchestrated at the expense of the South African people. It further says that The Guptas and Essa have used their influence with prominent politicians and parties to line their pockets with ill-gotten gains.
Sanctions demonstrate the US government’s unwavering commitment to supporting the rule of law and accountability in South Africa. It supports the anti-corruption efforts of South Africa’s independent judiciary, law enforcement agencies, and the ongoing judicial commissions of inquiry.
Gupta brothers immigrated to South Africa from India in the 1990s and had close ties with former South African President Jacob Zuma. The Gupta family has been implicated in several corrupt government schemes in South Africa, allegedly several hundreds of millions of dollars through illegal deals with the South African government. The implication of this is that entities directly or indirectly owned by the Guptas in the US or in possession of US citizens are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.
