Insufficient legal documents result in Dubai Court of Appeal’s decision to deny extradition of Gupta brothers to South Africa.

ABU DHABI, 7th April, 2020 (WAM) — His Excellency Abdullah bin Sultan bin Awad Al Nuaimi, Minister of Justice, made a telephone conversation today with His Excellency Ronald Lamula, Minister of Justice and Corrections of the Republic of South Africa, to discuss the judicial ruling regarding the request for the extradition of the accused Atul and Rajesh Kumar Gupta.

The Dubai Court of Appeal had ruled that the Gupta brothers could not be extradited to South Africa due to insufficient legal documentation in relation to two cases involving money laundering, fraud and corruption.
The court’s decision that extradition is not possible follows a thorough and meticulous legal review process that found that the submitted application did not meet the legal requirements and documents as set out in the bilateral extradition agreement between the UAE and South Africa that entered into force in April 2021.

With regard to the extradition request related to the fraud charge, Article 9/3 of the extradition agreement stipulates that the request must be accompanied by a copy of the arrest warrant, while the submitted documents were accompanied by a canceled arrest warrant, and therefore the conditions for extradition were not met.

With regard to the charge of corruption, Article 3/9 of the extradition agreement stipulates that the extradition request must be accompanied by a copy of the arrest warrant, while the documents submitted were empty of it, and therefore the request did not meet the conditions for extradition.
On November 29, 2022, the Ministry of Justice had received the original extradition file from the South African authorities after holding several meetings with them. The extradition request was referred to the Public Prosecution Office to investigate the extradited persons and confront them with the charges against them.. After several investigation sessions, the file was referred to the competent court of appeal. After three hearings, it issued its decision that the wanted persons could not be handed over to the competent authorities of the Republic of South Africa.
The UAE judicial authorities had informed their counterparts in South Africa of the court sessions at every stage.

The UAE has 45 valid extradition agreements, 37 of which have been fully ratified and 8 are awaiting legal ratification. It also has 44 bilateral mutual legal assistance agreements in force.. In 2023, 30 extradition requests for international suspects and other concerned persons were approved. .

The UAE continues its commitment to cooperate with its international partners to combat global financial crimes, confront them and prosecute those involved in them, and with transparency and integrity in implementing procedures in this regard.

After the decision of the Dubai Court of Appeal, the judicial authorities in the UAE made it clear that the South African authorities could re-submit the extradition request with new documents and evidence.