It has been a good week for the National Prosecuting Authority’s investigating directorate (ID).
On Wednesday, Gupta lieutenant Ronica Ragavan, erstwhile CEO of Oakbay, was in the dock on 11 charges including fraud, corruption, money-laundering and contravening environmental laws.
Ragavan, who loyally stood by the brothers as they fled their sinking ship, appeared in court alongside her former colleague Ugenshnie Govender and former mineral resources deputy director-general Joel Raphela. Ragavan is accused of unlawfully siphoning for her bosses R1.75bn in rehabilitation funds held in trust for the Guptas’ Optimum and Koornfontein mines.
On Friday, it was the turn of three former Transnet bigwigs, alleged to have bled the state-owned company for the Guptas’ benefit, to appear in court on criminal charges.
In the dock were CEO Siyabonga Gama, former acting CFO Garry Pita and ex-group treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi. But even bigger news was the appearance alongside them of Eric Wood, a director of Trillian.
All four were charged alongside another Trillian executive, Daniel Roy, and alleged Gupta fixer and money-launderer Kuben Moodley.
The latter was arrested and charged in September while getting onto a flight to Dubai for what he said was a golf trip.
These are arguably the biggest state capture fish netted thus far. The Transnet six are charged with various offences including fraud, corruption, money-laundering and contravening the Public Finance Management Act.
Though the ID is not releasing the charge sheet, saying it is going to add further accused to the case, the charges relate to the R93m Transnet paid to Trillian for arranging a R30bn club loan, which was used to buy the infamous 1,064 locomotives. This was after Transnet already paid Regiments for doing the same, unnecessary, work.
Let us remember that the 1,064 locomotives project was arguably the biggest single state-capture heist that the Guptas pulled off. They are alleged to have received more than R3bn in kickbacks from the deal, which was illegally hiked from R38.6bn to R54.5bn.
With their ill-gotten gains, the Guptas were able to buy Optimum coal mine, which is now in the hands of the state with a restraint order preventing its sale.
The next step is to ensure they win in court and put those who looted the state behind bars
Let us also remind ourselves who Wood is, and revisit the allegations that have been mounting against him for years. In 2019, an investigation by this newspaper into the #TrillianLeaks trove of emails revealed that Wood's personal wealth ballooned after meeting the Guptas.
In 2010 he claimed to be worth R166m, but by 2015, just over two years after meeting the Guptas, he was worth R619m in shares, property, cash and luxury sports cars.
Trillian received R600m in unlawful and unwarranted payments from Eskom for doing little work in a deal with McKinsey.
Wood also knew almost two months in advance that former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene would be fired and replaced by Des van Rooyen, according to testimony before a parliamentary committee by his former employee Mosilo Mothepu.
This sent the markets into free fall and cost the country billions of rands. Wood, Mothepu testified, made a handsome profit as the country bled, by buying up US dollars and making hundreds of millions of rands in the process.
The criminal cases against those charged this week — as well as others in recent months such as Gupta lieutenant Iqbal Sharma — mark a shift in the work of the ID. After successful asset restraint cases aimed at preserving money stolen from the public, come real attempts to put behind bars those who looted the country.
The ID has said we can expect more state-capture cases to be enrolled soon. This is a welcome development for a corruption-weary public, but it is just a first step.
The next step is to ensure that they win in court and put those who looted the state in overage overalls and behind bars.
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