Gupta spying had stamp of SSA involvement

Just when you thought the state capture revelations could be no more mind-numbing in their extent, two astonishing reports in the weekend media take the Gupta involvement in the affairs of government to new depths, notes Legalbrief. Reports by both News24 and the Sunday Times reveal e-mails and other documents obtained through the #GuptaLeaks show how the family spied on prominent South Africans, including former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel; his wife and Absa CEO Maria Ramos; EFF leader Julius Malema and FirstRand bosses Laurie Dippenaar and GT Ferreira, and had access to their travel movements. A second Sunday Times report reveals how the Guptas attempted to extend their political influence to the minerals-rich Democratic Republic of Congo by urging the Central African country's ambassador to Pretoria to appoint Atul Gupta as an honorary consul, based on a claim that he had ‘earned’ a ‘nomination of State Minister by the South African government’. The Gupta business network appeared to operate like a fully-fledged spy agency, tracking prominent politicians and businesspeople and sourcing sensitive information from well-placed moles in key state entities. A News24 report notes that buried among the thousands of e-mails and documents that make up the #GuptaLeaks is an Excel spreadsheet, the contents of which reveal a disturbing reality – Ashu Chawla, one of the Guptas’ most trusted lieutenants, had been privy to the dates of international flights taken by some of the Guptas’ most prominent adversaries, including Malema and Manuel. The document also features the international flight details and ID numbers of Absa CEO Maria Ramos and those of a handful of so-called ‘white monopoly capital’ business leaders. FirstRand Group chairperson Laurie Dippenaar and the banking group’s co-founder GT Ferreira are among the ‘WMC’ businessmen whose travel details are captured in the file. Malema reportedly confirmed to News24 that the ID number listed in the document alongside the initial ‘JM’ is his and that he had flown out of and back to South Africa on the six occasions in 2015 listed in the spreadsheet. The EFF leader claims that the information could only have come from the Department of Home Affairs or from the State Security Agency (SSA). Malema vowed to take up the matter with the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence. Dippenaar, Manuel and Ramos also confirmed the authenticity of their ID numbers and the flight dates listed under their names. ‘It is deeply concerning to us that this private information appears to have been collected and stored by a third party for reasons unknown to us. This is an egregious breach of privacy and amounts to criminal conduct,’ Manuel and Ramos said in a joint statement. ‘We are considering the legal options available to us,’ they added.