South Africa: Home affairs committee calls for action on Gupta naturalisation fraud

Published: 18/Mar/2019
Source: Daily Maverick (South Africa)

After a lengthy inquiry into the Gupta family’s relationship with the Department of Home Affairs, Parliament’s home affairs committee has filed its final report. The committee wants criminal charges laid against the Guptas and their right-hand man Ashu Chawla for the false information they submitted in their bid for early South African naturalisation. The committee also recommends that future Ministers of Home Affairs have their wings clipped when it comes to the ability to hand out citizenship.

Parliament’s inquiry on “State Capture in Granting of Citizenship to Non-South Africans” has concluded, just shy of two years after the home affairs committee began the work of figuring out how the Gupta family qualified for South African citizenship much sooner than they should have.

The committee’s work was hamstrung by the fact that the man considered to be the most vital witness to proceedings – Gupta lieutenant Ashu Chawla – refused to come to South Africa to testify. Or, to be more precise, Chawla presented the committee with so many obstacles to his return that the committee in the end had to conclude its work without Chawla’s information.

Read further: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-03-18-home-affairs-committee-calls-for-action-on-gupta-naturalisation-fraud/

Themes: Naturalisation and Marriage, Loss and Deprivation of Nationality
Regions: South Africa
Year: 2019