PLANESPOTTING
The curious case of the ‘missing’ Gupta jet
In 2013 the Guptas gained notoriety when a plane full of their guests was allowed to land at Waterkloof air force base. Five years later, it’s another plane — their ‘missing’ private jet — that’s in the spotlight
The courtroom showdown between lawyers for the Guptas and the Canadian bank that lent them US$41m to buy a Bombardier jet degenerated into theatre of the absurd last week. The arguments went something like this: Export Development Canada (EDC) cancelled the loan agreement and wanted its plane back because it had discovered that its clients were most likely corrupt; the Gupta lawyers countered that EDC had known this all along. The case is making front-page headlines in Canada, with the bank coming under fire for advancing state-backed loans to clients embroiled in corruption scandals, including the Guptas. Around the same time that the bank financed the Gupta jet, it provided $450m in funding for Bombardier’s sale of 240 locomotives to Transnet, a state entity whose board was stacked with Gupta deployees. Questions were raised about this contract after the cost increased by 40% from R8.2bn to R13bn. Business Day revealed in January that Trillian executive Salim Essa allegedly asked ...
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