Guptas are running out of places to hide

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the signing of treaties on Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This means the infamous Guptas are fast running out of places to hide as they can now face extradition to finally answer for state capture.

The Guptas, aided and abetted by the complacent and failing ANC, have been given unfettered access to billions in public money. When their time was running out, they skipped the country to yet again avoid accountability.

The DA will write to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, to request an urgent sitting of the National Assembly so that these treaties can be ratified in terms of section 231(2) and 231(4) of the Constitution.

These sections hold that:

(2) “An international agreement binds the Republic only after it has been approved by resolution in both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, unless it is an agreement referred to in subsection(3)”

(4) “Any international agreement becomes law in the Republic when it is enacted into law by national legislation; but a self-executing provision of an agreement that has been approved by Parliament is law in the Republic unless it is inconsistent with the Constitution or an Act of Parliament.”

However, there is nothing that prevents South Africa from requesting the extradition of the Gupta brothers and their associates while still in process of incorporating the agreements into our domestic law.

For far too long, the Guptas have shown contempt for the law and dodged accountability for bleeding the country’s state-owned enterprises dry.

They should not be allowed to run and hide anymore. It is time they came back to South Africa and face the consequences of their actions.

Statement issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 26 September 2018