‘I’m no fugitive — I emigrated to Dubai,’ says Gupta Inc’s Salim Essa

Salim Essa says he is willing to put up a “reasonable amount” of cash to keep alive his legal challenge of the State Capture report. He says the R5-million demanded by South Africa’s courts is “patently extortionist”.

Essa, a key player in the Gupta brothers’ network, filed a high court application last August to overturn the report as it relates to him. The State Capture Commission, represented by the State Attorney, countered with an interlocutory application for the security of costs amounting to R5-million.

This is partly because the commission deems Essa a fugitive from justice, making the chances of recovering taxpayer funds a concern should he lose the case.

Essa is opposing the application for security for costs and has submitted a 23-page answering affidavit in which he challenges the commission’s contention that he is a fugitive.

He also labels as defective and “patently extortionist” the commission’s R5-million demand for security and says it is aimed at shutting the door on his review bid.

It would be more apt, he says, for the registrar of the high court to determine a reasonable amount, one that he would be willing to abide by.

Besides, says Essa, the State Attorney cannot seriously contend that it and its counsel will charge R5-million to argue the review application. “If that is the contention, it constitutes the grossest form of wasteful expenditure of state money that one can imagine,” says Essa, ironically a man accused of raking in millions of rands from questionable deals involving state-owned companies.

Essa says that, in order to be labelled a fugitive from justice, he must have deliberately placed himself beyond the jurisdiction of the court to evade justice.

‘A false distortion of the facts’