ED initiates money laundering probe, raids against Gupta brothers of South Africa, linked persons

New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches at locations linked to the tainted Gupta brothers of South Africa and their associates as part of a money laundering investigation, official sources said.

The action by the federal probe agency came in the backdrop of a Mutual Legal Assistance Request (MLAR) received by India from South Africa in a case related to the "state capture scam", the sources said.

The trio of Indian origin siblings-- Atul, Ajay, and Rajesh Gupta-- have been accused of siphoning billions of rands in South Africa through their close association with former president Jacob Zuma.

The influential brothers and their families fled to Dubai after Zuma was removed in 2018.

The brothers and Zuma had denied any wrongdoing.

Those searched include the locations linked to the Gupta brothers and Piyoosh Goyal of World Window Group and their associated entities like Sahara Computers and ITJ Retails Pvt Ltd.

ED sources said they also searched an individual named Ram Ratan Jagati in Ahmedabad, a "key person" involved in the scheme of money laundering, by incorporating a shell company named JJ Trading FZE in Dubai.

This company was allegedly used as a "vehicle" for money laundering by Piyoosh Goyal and the Gupta brothers, as per the sources.

The Gupta brothers had moved to South Africa as the country opened to the international economy after the fall of apartheid, and they built a business empire in the name of software imports through Sahara Computers, apart from IT, media and mining sectors.

Some lavish assets of the Guptas in that country were recently put up for auction by the South African government. PTI NES RT