News24 presents: Dubai - the Guptas' City of shells

It’s one of the world’s leading business and financial hubs…and it’s here, in the sweltering desert metropolis of Dubai, that the infamous Gupta family established a secondary business base outside South Africa. But beneath the the veneer of exotic cars, popular tourist attractions and shiny office towers… Dubai offers businesspeople - like the Guptas - even more valuable perks… Financial anonymity and confidentiality. We’ve come to the United Arab Emirates to follow the money. That is, the hund

reds of millions of rands in kickbacks and taxpayers’ money that was diverted from dodgy government contracts in South Africa to Gupta-owned and linked companies in and around Dubai. Our search leads us away from the malls and office blocks, to a large industrial area nearly 50 km to the north of the city. The Hamriyah Free Zone is supposed to be home to JJ Trading, which deals in scrap metal - according to this Gupta-linked company’s website. But scrap metal, by all accounts, is not JJ trading’

s main area of focus. Documents in the #Guptaleaks emails detailed how JJ Trading was set to receive nearly a billion rand in kickbacks from China South Rail, or CSR. These so-called 'success fees’ came in the wake of CSR winning contracts worth more than R20 billion from South Africa’s state-owned rail operator, Transnet, to supply South Africa with new trains. By May 2015, CSR had already paid JJ Trading R706 million, according to a questionable agreement entered into between CSR and Salim Ess

a, a known Gupta associate. Financial records in the #Guptaleaks have also shown how another Chinese manufacturer- Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries - paid JJ Trading nearly R55 million after it clinched a R1.2 billion contract to supply cranes to Transnet. Given the fact that JJ Trading is a company with revenues of at least R760 million, thanks to the Transnet contracts, it came as a surprise to us that no-one at the Hamriyah Free Zone had ever heard of the company. Under UAE media laws journa

lists can be arrested and jailed for reports that may harm the country’s reputation. We had also been warned not to ask questions about companies in our official capacities as journalists. We therefore used hidden cameras in some situations. JJ Trading, JJ Trading. Yes. JJT. This guard makes it clear that there is no company called JJ Trading inside the industrial complex. So there's no company like that here - JJ Trading? Not that you have heard of. In 2013, after JJ Trading had received its fi

rst kickback from Shanghai Zhenhua, the supplier of Transnet’s cranes, it transferred nearly R10 million to another Gupta-linked company called Global Corporation. #Guptaleaks documents have also shown that R26 million from the Free State government’s failed Vrede diary project was channeled through Global Corporation, and was eventually used to help pay for the Guptas’ lavish wedding party in Sun City. We hit the road again hoping to find someone who could explain to us why so much money from S

outh Africa’s public coffers had ended up in the accounts of Gupta-linked companies in the UAE. Global Corporation’s address, as captured in various #Guptaleaks documents, takes us to this building next to a lagoon, some 20km north of downtown Dubai. But the guard at the reception assures us that this is a residential tower and that there is no company called Global Corporation operating out of the building. Are you sure there's not a Global, Global Corp? He explains that we are not the first t

o come here in search of the company and suggests we try elsewhere. Like JJ Trading, Global Corporation appears to exist only on paper. We stick to the money trail, this time travelling to a light industrial zone near Dubai’s city center. We’re looking for Fidelity Enterprises, a Gupta company through which R31 million from the Free State diary project was laundered all the way back to the Guptas’ Oakbay Investments in South Africa. But according to business owners in the area the address for Fi

delilty, as contained in invoices and other documents in the #Guptaleaks, does not exist. Fidelity Enterprises appears to be yet another Gupta shell. And on it goes… SAS Global Services Limited? 12 A 06. GBS? Okay, sorry. When we visit the address for SAS Global Services, a Gupta-linked company that would have been the ultimate beneficiary for yet another Free State government contract, we instead find a firm that specializes in registering and incorporating new companies in the UAE. You are? Th

e name didn't maybe change or something? A visit to the address for SKG Holdings, which is thought to stand for Shiv Kumar Gupta, father of the Gupta brothers, yields similar results. The company shares an address with Intertrust, another Dubai-based firm that registers companies in the UAE. An Intertrust employee confirms that SKG Holdings is one of their clients, but she cannot provide us with an actual address for the Gupta-linked company. We're actually looking for SKG. Apparently, we’re not

the only ones who’ve been looking for SKG Holdings. Would it be possible to look what their current address is then? This one, which is your address and telephone number. On the website? The closest we come to encountering a living soul at one of the Guptas’ Dubai shells is when we visit a company called Griffin Line General Trading. The company is located in the city’s central business district. According to its website, it trades in rice and spices. However, judging by invoices in the #Guptal

eaks, Griffin Line General Trading is primarily being used as a wallet for settling the Guptas’ bills with hotels and travel agents. We knock, but there is no one home. Someone else had left a friendly message on the company’s printed sign. An office worker from another company on the same floor tells us that they sometimes see a woman at Griffin Line. But this time round, we aren’t as lucky. After a week of looking for answers at the Guptas’ UAE companies, it is clear that these businesses are

simply smokescreens; a network of empty shells designed to conceal and launder the proceeds of dodgy government contracts in South Africa.