Inside The Empire

Fancy cars & pampered wives – how the Guptas lived until they disappeared

- Marlise Scheepers

WE SEARCHED high and low – from leafy Johannesburg neighbourhoods and a luxury safari lodge in Limpopo to mansions in stinking rich suburbs of Cape Town. But everywhere we went we got the same answer: “the Guptas aren’t here.”

Yet while it’s now believed all three brothers have fled the country there’s still evidence of the lavish lifestyles they once lived here, milking their association with former president Jacob Zuma at every opportunity. They owned multiple properties countrywide, a fleet of luxury cars – reportedly including a Maserati, Bentley and Lamborghini – and they employed a small army of private bodyguards to protect them and ferry their wives to upmarket shopping centres.

Most South Africans first heard of the notorious family in 2013 when they landed a private plane at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria – a national key point – filled with guests on their way to a lavish family celebration in Sun City.

There was a time not so long ago when Atul (50), Ajay (52) and Rajesh, also known as “Tony” (46), hosted senior government ministers in their compound in Saxonwold, Joburg, and interfered with the appointment of ministers. Now the Hawks have issued warrants for their arrest on corruption charges, and assets worth R220 million have been frozen. 

But where are the Guptas now? 

“In Dubai,” says our source, who used to be close to the family. Maybe the Guptas always knew they’d have to flee one day. Back in 2015 they reportedly splashed out R445 million on a 10-bedroom house in the United Arab Emirates – which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with South Africa. It’s believed that’s where they could be holed up now.