Atul Gupta’s bid to obtain SA passport is denied, and he must pay costs

Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi has welcomed the Pretoria high court’s judgment that holds that Atul Gupta is a fugitive from justice and therefore does not qualify for an SA passport.

On September 25 2018, having fled SA after the advent of the Gupta Leaks — the emails that blew the lid off the extent of the Gupta family’s influence over state institutions during Jacob Zuma’s presidency — Gupta approached the consul-general of SA in Dubai to apply for a passport.

The home affairs department rejected the application after receiving confirmation from the National Prosecuting Authority that a warrant of arrest had been issued against him for fraud and money laundering offences related to the Vrede dairy project.

Unhappy with that refusal, Gupta approached the High Court in February 2021, where he sought to force the department to issue him a new SA passport. He claimed that he had a constitutional right to a passport as a citizen of SA. He further said the constitution stated that nobody should be deprived of their citizenship.

The department argued he was a fugitive from justice and he did not have the right to challenge the department in a court of law in SA.

The department challenged Gupta to indicate if he would be prepared to come to SA if the court ordered him to do so. Gupta said he would have to take legal advice.

In his judgment on Friday, judge Mncedisi Khumalo found that “if [Gupta] indeed is not a fugitive from justice, why would he need legal advice whether he ought to come to this country for whatever reason? This is more telling for a person who owns property and had owned businesses in this country.”

Khumalo also noted that Gupta did not give a particular address in Dubai.

“All that he seems prepared to state is that he is an SA citizen resident in Dubai. Nothing further is disclosed. I am of the view that this was not oversight on the applicant’s side but was deliberate,” the judgment reads.

The court declared that Gupta was a fugitive from justice and had no right or capacity to bring an action in court. It also ordered Gupta to pay the costs of the application.

“Friday’s judgment shows that you cannot want to escape accountability in a country and seek to enjoy the use of documents that are exclusively reserved for law-abiding citizens of that country,” Motsoaledi said.

He welcomed the costs order against Gupta because it ensured public funds were kept for service delivery.

“Minister Motsoaledi instructed the department to immediately start the process to recover the costs,” the ministry said.

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