Related: Gupta brothers arrested in Dubai over South Africa fraud allegations
The mansion hidden behind towering walls in the tree-lined suburb of Saxonwold in Johannesburg is now empty, its occupants having long since fled.
It was from here the Gupta brothers — Ajay, Atul and Rajesh — allegedly once held court and for a time became the centre of power of Africa’s wealthiest country.
As news spreads of the arrest in Dubai of two of the siblings, Rajesh and Atul, South Africans can hope they will eventually receive answers relating to claims of a near-decade long corruption spree that has pushed the country towards bankruptcy.
At the height of their power, it is alleged the brothers appointed government ministers and had others fired. Ex-Cabinet member Mcebisi Jonas gave evidence last year before a commission of inquiry that he had been personally summoned to the Saxonwold mansion to meet the Guptas.
Brothers accused of wielding vast influence
Mr Jonas said he was offered a $44 million bribe to take the promotion from deputy to finance minister. The Guptas were said to have made it clear that Mr Jonas would be their man, and would be required to sign off on projects such as a multibillion-dollar nuclear deal with Russia. Mr Jonas said he turned down the offer and was subsequently fired by his boss, then-president Jacob Zuma.
The Guptas arrived in South Africa from their native Uttar Pradesh in India during the early 1990s, when a country emerging from apartheid stagnation was ripe with possibilities. For nearly 20 years they lived in relative obscurity while building up a prosperous business empire, mostly based around computer imports.
Yet, they also found time to hitch their wagon to leading political figures, including Zuma, who served as president from 2009 to 2018 and is awaiting trial for corruption and fraud.
Just how influential they had become began to emerge in 2011, when the brothers arranged for a private wedding party to fly from India in a chartered Airbus. The flight flouted local aviation rules by landing at the country’s main air force base, Waterkloof in Pretoria, which is usually barred to civilian aircraft.
The 200 passengers disembarked without showing passports or clearing customs. Then, they boarded buses and were whisked to the wedding venue in Sun City.
Close ties to Zuma presidency
This would be the first of series of scandals involving the Guptas and their growing influence over the Zuma presidency.
They stood accused of appointing trusted associates to the boards of state-owned enterprises such as electricity company Eskom and national airline South African Airways.
Eskom over the past decade went from a profitable group to nearly $40 billion in debt and regularly inflicts extended blackouts on the country, critics say in large part due to a legacy of mismanagement during the Zuma-Gupta era.
The destruction of value during this time was not limited to South Africa. One of Britain’s leading public relations companies Bell Pottinger was forced into bankruptcy in 2017, when it was revealed it was on a retainer to the Guptas. Bell Pottinger ran a campaign using Twitter bots, to smear Zuma-Gupta critics as agents of a cabal of "white monopoly capital" wanting to reverse black liberation.
Bloomberg has linked at least $3.5bn in direct payments from state-owned groups to Gupta companies. The South African Reserve Bank has suggested as much as $32bn may have been stolen during the chaotic Gupta years.
As the tsunami of scandal built up, crowds would gather outside their mansion to protest. When Zuma was forced out of the presidency by his rival Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018, it was clear time was up for the Guptas and the family abandoned their compound and fled the country.
The Gupta brothers deny any wrongdoing and have fought the application of red notices issued by Interpol. They say they are the victims of a political witch hunt in South Africa.
“I foresee this will take many years to play out,” says legal analyst Llewelyn Curlewis.
