Hawks confirm raid at Gupta Saxonwold residence

The Hawks have confirmed that a Wednesday morning raid is currently underway at the Saxonwold residence of the controversial Gupta family.

Huge police presence outside the Gupta compound in #saxonworld pic.twitter.com/uQhDJTVMAW

— City Press Online (@City_Press) February 14, 2018

Hawks spokesperson Hangwani Mulaudzi told News24 that officers were on scene, but could not immediately confirm the details of the operation.

“We are there. We will be issuing a statement later.”

[WATCH] The #Gupta home is full of police.
The Hawks are raiding. The gates open for a few minutes to give you a glimpse of what’s happening inside #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/zoTq7gJtJb

— Chriselda Lewis (@Chriseldalewis) February 14, 2018

Three ministers: Faith Muthambi, Lynne Brown and Des van Rooyen, and two officials, Dan Mantsha and Bruce Koloane, are the next in line, Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip John Steenhuisen and national spokesperson Phumzile van Damme announced in Parliament.

According to the DA, then-minister of communications, Muthambi forwarded a presidential proclamation detailing her powers to the Guptas and their associates before this proclamation was even signed by the President.

Another view of Gupta raid pic.twitter.com/NQgsXOQ1Js

— andrew harding (@AndrewWJHarding) February 14, 2018

She also sent them confidential information on Cabinet meetings

Leaked emails show that the Gupta family and their associates had easy access to confidential internal memos sent to the Minister of Public Enterprises Lynne Brown in which the department expresses uneasiness about the Denel and VR Laser Asia joint venture.

The DA is also taking Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s report on the Vrede dairy project in the Free State on review, the party’s leader Mmusi Maimane announced on Monday.

“There is no effort shown to probe the true corruption at the heart of the Vrede scam, and to hold those responsible accountable,” Maimane told reporters at the DA’s Cape Town offices.

“[Free State Premier] Ace Magashule and [Former agriculture MEC] Mosebenzi Zwane get off unscathed in what was a scheme that they conceived, planned and executed - along with the Guptas - to defraud the public of hundreds of millions of rands.

“After four years, Advocate Mkhwebane simply cannot blame lack of capacity for this embarrassment of a report… We were the original complainants in the Vrede matter. We have met with the public protector, and have visited the beneficiaries often to keep them posted on progress.— News24