The Guptas
2016 POLITICS NEWSMAKER: The family that owns number one
Like instalments of a national soap opera, the news flow about the Guptas’ influence over the president and public corporations held the country agog. But signs are the Zupta chapter is coming to an end
Poor Atul Gupta. He’s the ingratiating one of the three Gupta brothers. The good cop. He was the guy who had to do all the apologising to the nation after the Guptas had, with President Jacob Zuma’s covert approval, landed a party of wedding guests at an SA Air Force base, Waterkloof, near Pretoria in 2013. On Sunday, the Sunday Times published its annual "rich list" which this year showed that Atul is the richest black man in SA. It is the last thing he needs right now, what with him and his family accused of looting the state, with Zuma’s active assistance. To make it worse, it is almost certainly not true. The Rich List merely calculates the value of shares that individuals own on the JSE and the listed Gupta company, Oakbay, is probably worth only a fraction of its official market capitalisation. It is barely traded and the share price is artificially maintained. The brothers — Ajay, Atul and Rajesh "Tony" Gupta – may have their reasons for holding the Oakbay price at around R20...
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