The Mail & Guardian The Gupta brothers and their business associate Salim Essa are the most recent additions to the 1 300-page United States blacklist, which includes familiar names such as Robert Mugabe and former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The Mail & Guardian dug through the list of more than 7 000 entries on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (Ofac’s) report, Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.
Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, along with Essa, are on page 468. This follows the US treasury’s announcement last week that they were sanctioned for using their political connections for nefarious ends.
Sigal Mandelker, the under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence in the US treasury department, said in a statement: “The Gupta family leveraged its political connections to engage in widespread corruption and bribery, capture government contracts, and misappropriate state assets.”
Ofac said in a statement: “As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the individuals named above, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50% or more by them, individually, or with other designated persons, that are in the US or in the possession or control of US persons, are blocked and must be reported to Ofac.”
The Gupta family and Essa were added to the list of just over 4 000 individuals who have been blacklisted for reasons ranging from drug trafficking to terrorism.