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Guptas' Sun City wedding loot: 'Two MPs collected the money'

26th July 2019

By: News24Wire

  

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The money used for the Gupta family's big 2013 Sun City wedding allegedly came from the Vrede dairy farm and two current MPs collected it, the State capture inquiry heard on Friday.

"The money for the Sun City wedding came from the farm. Those funds definitely came from the dairy farm," Willie Basson, a businessman from Vrede in the Free State, testified.

Basson was giving evidence before the State capture commission of inquiry about machinery and equipment used to construct a processing plant on the farm, the death of cattle and people he encountered on the farm.

"How do you know this?" evidence leader, advocate Leah Gcabashe, asked him.

"I know many people. I have a lot of insight and those who gave me this information would not lie to me.

"I can give you the names, but I don't want to do it on television," he said.

Basson further alleged that two people who are members of the current National Assembly collected the money. He did not name the MPs.

"There were horrible things that happened. R500-million was given for the project but no more than R200-million was used. So where did the other R300-million go?" Basson asked.

The project promised one hundred black emerging farmers five cows each as part of an empowerment scheme. Gifted to Estina in 2013 under a free 99-year lease by the Department of Agriculture in the province, the farm has been one of the most controversial transactions between the Guptas and a government entity, News24 earlier reported.

The infamous Sun City event, in which Vega Gupta wed Aakash Jahajgarhia, was a four-day extravaganza that cost millions, News24 previously reported.

The wedding sparked outrage after guests landed at the Waterkloof air force base - for what Sahara CEO Ashu Chawla referred to in a planning email as "the marriage of the century" - to head to the resort in the North West from April 30 to May 4 and 231 rooms were booked for family members and guests.

Basson concluded his evidence.

Edited by News24Wire

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