CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa has vowed to take legal and diplomatic steps to capture the Gupta brothers after a court in the United Arab Emirates rejected a request to extradite the men on charges of money laundering and fraud and released them from custody. 

The India-born Gupta brothers allegedly confided with former South African President Jacob Zuma to steal billions of dollars from state arms, electricity and transport companies. Zuma and the two brothers, who fled South Africa in April 2016 for Dubai, deny wrongdoing. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who succeeded Zuma, said in 2019 that at least $32 billion may have been stolen under his predecessor’s leadership. 

Atul and Rajesh Gupta were arrested in Dubai in June last year and were detained after Interpol put them on their most wanted list. The siblings are wanted by South Africa in connection with fraud and money laundering charges. The charges relate to millions of rands purportedly funding a dairy farm in South Africa’s Free State province, which were instead allegedly laundered through Dubai to help pay for the 2013 wedding of Vega Gupta, the daughter of the three Gupta brothers’ sister Achla.

The UAE on April 7 said that South Africa’s extradition request failed to “meet the strict standards for legal documentation” and that the Guptas were no longer in custody. The UAE justice minister said Pretoria could resubmit the request with new and additional documentation for it to be reconsidered, state news agency WAM reported. Later that day, South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola lambasted the ruling, saying his government learned “with shock and dismay” that the extradition hearing had been concluded. 

Now, Ramaphosa’s government plans to appeal the ruling in the UAE and will raise the issue at United Nations Convention Against Corruption taking place in the United States in December, director-general at the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Doctor Mashabane said in an interview published by Bloomberg Wednesday.

“We got the sense that we are not being taken seriously” by the UAE, he said. “When we deal with serious democracies and legal systems in the world, and we see how their officials go out of their way to assist and vice versa, in this case we really felt undermined.”

The UAE claims it has had the brothers in custody since June 2022, but a report by Africa Intelligence that did not cite a source said they were seen in Switzerland in late March. The outlet reported that the brothers were flying in their private jet using their South African passports to the Central African Republic where they are seeking asylum. Their current whereabouts are unknown. 

South Africa’s The Daily Maverick reported Wednesday that the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) will reportedly issue a démarche to the UAE’s ambassador to South Africa to answer the questions about why the Guptas were released from jail following the rejection of their extradition. The report cited a well-placed source at DIRCO. A démarche is a formal diplomatic step that is often used to object to actions taken by a foreign government. Ramaphosa’s office on Wednesday evening denied that South Africa would issue a démarche to the ambassador.

Al-Monitor has contacted the UAE Embassy in Pretoria and the Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment. Al-Monitor has also reached out to Mashabane.