SA airport officials to share footages of fleeing Ajay Gupta

Cape Town [South Africa], Feb 16 (ANI): The officials of South African airport are coordinating with the country's elite high-priority crimes unit Hawks in order to establish the whereabouts of Ajay Gupta, the India-born close aide of former president Jacob Zuma who resigned on Thursday.

The officials of OR Tambo International Airport will meet with Hawks investigators to hand over video footage showing Gupta's departure and will also verify his flight details.

According to the local media reports, the airport's spokesperson Leigh Gunkel-Keuler has stated that their records show that Gupta left the airport on a Dubai-bound Emirates flight 10 days ago.

Ajay Gupta has pulled a catch-me-if-you-can leaving the country as early as February 6 in an attempt to ensure his safety from prosecution.

South Africa's ports of entry have been reportedly put on high alert.

Hawks officials confirmed that Ajay Gupta was a fugitive from the law and that they had obtained a warrant for his arrest.

Gupta, who is the patriarch of the embattled Gupta family, is wanted in connection with the fraud and money laundering investigation related to the Estina dairy farm project in the South African province Free State.

Several media reports stated that Gupta is one of several suspects identified in the Estina dairy project investigation, which allegedly unlawfully netted the Guptas more than R100 million in state funds.

On Thursday, eight accused appeared in the Bloemfontein magistrates court.

The case will be heard again in August.

The Gupta family owns a range of business interests in South Africa, including computing, mining, air travel, energy, technology, and media. (ANI)