Q&A

The National Prosecuting Authority is racing to meet the deadline to extradite the Guptas from Dubai. Chris Barron asked former state prosecutor and DA spokesperson on justice GLYNNIS BREYTENBACH ...

Are you confident the NPA will stop the Guptas’ high-class team of SA lawyers getting them out on bail?

It doesn’t depend on the high-class team, it depends on the facts, and the facts are quite simple. They’ve committed money-laundering offences not only in SA but in Germany, the UK and the US. [Those countries would] all have an interest in having a look at them at some point. They’ve got every incentive to run and hide and that would be a huge issue in any bail application.

How much pressure will the United Arab Emirates (UAE) be under to make sure they don’t escape?

It doesn’t want to be a financial pariah state. It could lead to greylisting and that is something everybody wants to avoid.

Why is it taking the NPA so long to submit its extradition application?

A huge volume of documentation is required. It’s a massive amount of work.

The NPA has experts who’ve been dealing with extradition cases for years. What makes this one so different?

It’s got to be packaged for the UAE in a fashion that streamlines with its domestic law.

So will they meet the 60-day deadline?

I cannot contemplate them dropping the ball to the extent that they don’t meet the deadline.

Won’t the diplomatic and political aspects of the process make them reliant on the departments of international relations and justice for this?

They’ll be completely dependent on them to make sure the matter keeps moving forward.

Is that a concern given their record for meeting deadlines?

It’s the NPA’s job to keep pushing them, and if they’re not delivering, stick their little hand in the air and tell the justice portfolio committee they need help so we can help them. It’s no good telling us once the ship has sailed.

Might it satisfy certain agendas in these departments if they did miss the deadline?

There may be people who have that agenda, but I think the majority are probably desperate to shine a light anywhere except on their president. They’ll make sure the Gupta thing flows so that nobody looks at President Cyril Ramaphosa too closely.

Do you think the NPA was taken by surprise?

Absolutely. I don’t think anybody expected the Guptas to be arrested on the red notices on the day they were.

Is that why it took them so long to confirm the arrests?

I found it quite astonishing. It’s something you’d have thought they would trumpet from the rooftops. I don’t think they knew about them. I think the arrests on the red notice were done in haste and prematurely, possibly, to draw attention away from Ramaphosa. They happened as [Arthur] Fraser broke his story about the dollars in couches.

You seriously believe that?

I believe it’s one of the more credible options.

That Interpol came under pressure to speed up the arrests?

I think the arrests were in the pipeline, the red notices were issued, the requests had been made. It was very, very advantageous timing and I’m too old a prosecutor to believe in coincidences.