Dubai court has rejected South Africa’s request to extradite Atul and Rajesh Gupta, two brothers accused of using their close ties with former South African president Jacob Zuma to siphon off funds and influence Cabinet appointments.

The arrest of the brothers was made in June by the Dubai Police after Interpol had issued a Red Notice against them for allegedly looting billions from state-owned companies in South Africa. The UAE and South Africa signed an extradition treaty in 2018, which was ratified in 2021.

South African authorities submitted an extradition request based on two cases of money laundering, fraud, and corruption.

However, the Dubai Court of Appeal rejected the request, stating that the documents submitted were not in line with the extradition agreement between the UAE and South Africa

The court found that the charge of fraud should be accompanied by a copy of the arrest warrant order, which was missing from the submitted documents for the two accused. Similarly, the charge of corruption should be accompanied by a copy of the arrest warrant order, which was also missing from the submitted documents. The ministry said it received the original extradition file from South African authorities on November 29, after holding several meetings.

South African authorities can now resubmit the extradition request with new and additional documentation. Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Minister of Justice, spoke by phone with his South African counterpart Ronald Lamola to discuss the ruling on the extradition request.

The now accused were once ranked among the country’s most prominent businessmen, but the South African authorities accuse them of being at the center of a web of state corruption during Mr. Zuma’s rule, during which the government estimates more than 500 billion rand ($32.3bn) was stolen from its coffers.

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