SACP sceptical about Guptas selling their SA businesses

28 August 2016 - 16:29 By TMG Digital

The South African Communist Party (SACP) says its treats the announcement by the Guptas that they intend to sell off all of their assets in South Africa by the end of the year to certain unspecified international interests “with a great deal of scepticism”. It called on the Financial Intelligence Centre to satisfy itself that if any sales were affected‚ the Gupta family or close relatives were not the beneficial owners of the sale. Speaking after a meeting of its central committee over the weekend‚ the SACP noted that the announcement – ostensibly for the benefit of South Africa and to save local jobs – came at a time when Gupta companies were reportedly under increasing scrutiny from the Reserve Bank‚ Treasury and the Financial Intelligence Centre.“The announcement that the sale will be completed before the end of the year happens to coincide precisely with the 2017 date for the multi-lateral‚ international Automatic Exchange of Information (AEI) agreement coming into operation. The agreement provides for the automatic exchange of non-resident financial account information with the tax authorities in the account holder's country of residence.“This will facilitate the discovery of formerly undetected tax evasion by way of illicit flows into foreign bank accounts. The AEI will provide South African authorities with much greater insight into the foreign bank accounts of South African residents‚” the SACP said.“Given the over-valued and under-traded nature of Gupta-linked JSE interests we doubt that there will be much appetite for purchasing them. There is a strong possibility that the Guptas simply intend to sell their South African interests to themselves through their foreign-based investment venture capital operations‚” the party added.It trusted that the Reserve Bank‚ before approving any sale from a resident to a non-resident‚ would ensure that there was full legal compliance with capital export requirements.“We also believe that our financial regulatory entities should ensure that money is retained in South Africa in a blocked account so that any potential penalties and liabilities are covered should further information emerge in regard to the wrecking-ball activities of the Guptas and their associates.”..

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