Former president Jacob Zuma's son Duduzane tried to strike a deal with law enforcement agencies before going on the run this week.
Officials with intimate knowledge of the case told the Sunday Times that "unofficial" negotiations involving the 35-year-old delayed the Hawks' swoop on the Gupta family on Wednesday - which may have helped the Gupta brothers evade arrest.
Frustrated senior officials in the security cluster admitted on Friday that they had no idea about the whereabouts of Duduzane or the Gupta brothers Ajay and Atul as suspicions grew that they had been smuggled out of South Africa.
Tempers flared in the cluster last week over delays in making arrests in the Hawks' 17 state-capture investigations, but officials said finger-pointing would undermine the work already done in the investigations.
"The problem has been this thing of negotiating with Duduzane to either sing or sink as a 204 [section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act] witness," said an official who asked to remain anonymous. "The Hawks have been ready to make arrests, including those of implicated ANC people."Another official said: "Duduzane is trying through unofficial means for section 204." The section allows someone guilty of a crime to escape prosecution in return for testimony against others.
Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi refused to comment on negotiations with Duduzane, and NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku denied they had taken place. "The NPA has never been approached by anyone and neither has such a request ever been made or considered," said Mfaku.
But two sources in the security cluster insisted there had been attempts to turn Duduzane.
The Hawks last night issued a statement declaring Ajay a wanted fugitive in connection with the Vrede farm case.
"At this point I have directed police to make sure that none of the suspects get smuggled out of the republic's boundaries and that our border posts be vigilant. I am also aware of the many smuggling routes of our porous borders within the region and we are liaising with our regional counterparts for cooperation in this regard," said Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula.
Hawks sources said there was evidence that Duduzane and Ajay were still in the country when officers swooped on the Gupta compound in Saxonwold and Duduzane's property.
"We suspect that they might have been smuggled out of the country because we can't find anywhere where their passports were stamped, which means they might have been smuggled out or they are in the country somewhere, hidden," said a senior official.Insiders in the Hawks said Ajay and Duduzane were being sought over allegations that they attempted to bribe then-deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas in 2015.
In 2016, the Sunday Times revealed that the Guptas offered Jonas the chance to replace Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister shortly before Zuma fired Nene. Jonas confirmed to the public protector that he had been offered millions of rands to take the job.
Mulaudzi said only one arrest warrant had been issued against each of the individuals being sought, including a Chinese woman who was once a director of Estina, the company that ran the Gupta-linked Vrede dairy farm project in the Free State.
The Hawks raided several properties belonging to the Guptas and those of their business associates. Investigators warned staff and Gupta family members that they would be arrested if they had played a part in enabling Ajay to escape.
The day after the raids, eight people appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court in connection with the R220-million Vrede corruption case. They were Gupta associates Nazeem Howa, Ronica Ragavan, Varun Gupta, Kamal Vasram and Ashu Chawla, and government officials Sylvia Dlamini, Takisi Masiteng and Peter Thabethe. They were granted bail ranging from R10,000 to R200,000 and told to be back in court in August...