Guptas could lay criminal charges if emails were hacked

29 May 2017 - 10:53 By TMG Digital
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The Guptas could be laying criminal charges if it is found that their emails were hacked‚ the family’s lawyer said.

Sunday newspapers revealed damning emails that showed the extent to which Zuma and government ministers are controlled by the Gupta family.

  • Here they are: The emails that prove the Guptas run South AfricaA series of explosive e-mails show the extent of the Gupta family’s control over cabinet ministers, and state-owned companies and  their CEOs and boards. 

Some of the emails indicate that the Guptas were key to a plan for Zuma and his family to acquire residency in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

  • Let's hope e-mails will unite parliament to expunge ZumaIf there was any doubt about the scale of the Gupta family's capture of the South African state, the explosive e-mail leak published in Sunday papers yesterday and here today will put that to rest.

Other emails show that the Guptas were sent Mosebenzi Zwane’s CV before he was appointed minerals minister and that they intervened to ensure that the powers of the then communications minister‚ Faith Muthambi‚ were strengthened.

  • Gigaba says state capture report is a pack of liesFinance Minister Malusi Gigaba has denied involvement in state capture. 

The emails also reveal that the Guptas or their associates paid for luxury trips or hotel stays for government and parastatal officials‚ including Eskom’s Matshela Koko‚ cooperative governance minister Des van Rooyen and Denel director Dan Mantsha.

Gert van der Merwe‚ a lawyer for the Guptas‚ on Monday questioned the authenticity of the emails.

  • Spin doctors of smear: PR firm conspired with Guptas to paint Mcebisi Jonas as corruptGupta family associates plotted with UK public relations firm Bell Pottinger to launch a smear campaign against the Treasury by painting former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas as corrupt, leaked e-mails show. 

“I’m waiting for them (newspapers) to give me the documents‚ so that I can at least inspect them … I assume one will have to do two things. Firstly‚ understand whether these documents are in fact accurate and contextualised. The second thing is‚ one must understand how it got into the possession of the newspapers‚” Van der Merwe told Radio 702.

“If the emails are accurate‚ I’d like to consult with those witnesses‚ understand under which circumstances they wrote it and I think that’s only fair.”

  • Manyi implicated in parastatal jobs bid‚ leaked Gupta e-mail showsControversial Gupta family backer Mzwanele Manyi has been drawn into the dark web of state-owned company capture by the family‚ leaked e-mails show. 

He said he would consider further action if the newspapers had infringed on his client’s right to privacy.

“If it’s an infringement of my client’s right to privacy‚ that’s something I’ll take further with the newspapers.”

Van der Merwe also told The Citizen newspaper: “You send something in good faith and entrust it to somebody else. But if it was hacked‚ it is a criminal offence and I would advise my client to press criminal charges.”

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