/ 12 March 2018

#EskomInquiry: Guptas, Myeni dodge state capture hot seat

Former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni also sent a letter indicating she would not appear due to ill-health.
Former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni also sent a letter indicating she would not appear due to ill-health.

The Gupta brothers will not be appearing before the Eskom Inquiry on Tuesday, according to its chair Zukiswa Rantho.

The committee had planned to hear testimony from Gupta brothers Atul and Ajay, as well as Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, and former SAA board chair Dudu Myeni on Tuesday.

But Rantho told Fin24 early on Monday afternoon that she received a letter via the inquiry’s committee secretary from the Guptas’ lawyers, to say their clients will not appear because they are not in the country. 

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She received the letter on Monday afternoon.

Rantho said Myeni also sent a letter indicating she would not appear due to ill-health. Myeni dodged the inquiry a few times before.

When asked if the inquiry would wrap up on Tuesday, Rantho said she hoped so.

The committee will soon after table a report before Parliament, she said.

At the inquiry last week Wednesday, committee members discussed the urgency of wrapping up the inquiry before the end of the month and considered hearing from the remaining witnesses all on one day.

However committee members were concerned that the Gupta brothers would not appear and considered having their lawyers, or business associates Eric Wood and Salim Essa, appear at the inquiry.

The inquiry had eight months to do its work and a report of the findings was to be submitted to Parliament in March 2018.

Committee members last week agreed that the inquiry should wrap up by the end of the month. – Fin24