The Pretoria Magistrates' Court heard on Wednesday that equipment imported for the Gupta-linked Estina dairy farm was grossly overpriced in an alleged money laundering attempt. A witness testified that the equipment, which had been declared new and cost nearly R38m, was actually used and worth less than R14m.

Listen to this article 6 min Listen to this article 6 min In 2022, two associates of the Gupta brothers, Kamal Vasram and Saliesh Indurjeeth, directly linked to the failed Estina dairy project, were arrested and later released on bail of R10,000 each. The duo face charges of fraud, contravention of Section 54(1)(a) of the International Trade Administration Act, and Contravention of Regulation 22 of the Exchange Control Act.

This followed an investigation by SARS and the NPA's Investigating Directorate (ID) into the affairs of the Estina Dairy Project.

The investigation established that Estina submitted customs clearance documents in support of a VAT refund claim that declared a value of more than R37.7-million for a "new" pasteurisation plant imported from India.

The suspected overpriced pasteurising plant was found to be invoiced to Estina by Gateway Limited in the United Arab Emirates, a company suspected to be controlled by the Guptas as a conduit to launder money and to extract funds from South Africa.

Value 'inflated'

In an appearance in the Pretoria Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, witness Dawid Maree, FNB's agriculture information and marketing head, said the value of the Estina plant was inflated and not market-related and that it was...