Indian police raid Gupta properties
India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided multiple locations in New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and the Guptas’ ancestral home in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
The operations were carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a Mutual Legal Assistance Request (MLAR) from SA authorities.
India Today reported that investigators targeted businesses linked to brothers Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh Gupta, along with companies tied to Indian businessman Piyoosh Goyal’s World Window Group and an associate, Ram Ratan Jagati.
IoL reports that Jagati is alleged to have used a Dubai-based shell company, JJ Trading FZE, to launder illicit funds.
At the Gupta family’s sprawling ancestral home in Saharanpur, ED officials conducted a five-hour search, seizing documents and digital records believed to be linked to money laundering, shell entities, and offshore transactions.
The Guptas, once one of SA’s most powerful families due to their ties with former President Jacob Zuma, have faced mounting international pressure.
IoL notes that Atul and Rajesh were arrested in the UAE in 2022 under an Interpol Red Notice, but the authorities later rejected Pretoria’s extradition request on technical grounds.
With India now actively pursuing money laundering cases linked to the Guptas, and SA continuing to liquidate their assets, the once-influential family faces mounting legal and financial setbacks across borders.
As previously reported, the Saxonwold compound was last month sold to a single buyer for approximately R34.5m.
Deputy NDPP Advocate Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba, said that R19bn in corruption-linked assets have already been frozen, with a further R6bn deposited into state accounts or returned to ‘victim departments’.
‘What we’ve done was phase one. We are going into phase two and in fact we have started,’ she said.
While much of their fortune is now parked abroad, Rabaji-Rasethaba said that ‘phase two’ of asset recovery is underway in conjunction with the World Bank Stolen Assets Recovery Unit, the Basel Institute and other international enforcement networks to ‘force those countries where we know our money is to bring back the stolen money’.
‘We are working through international systems to make sure we get the money back.’
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
