Expert says Interpol could help get Guptas back to SA

JOHANNESBURG - A possible route to getting the Gupta brothers back in South Africa would be to involve the Interpol.

Law expert Selby Makgotho says that once a red notice is issued for suspects, any country can carry out their arrest.

READ: Gupta Extradition | Extraditions don't work like that - DA

He says the lapsed red notice for the brothers put out last year could be re-issued again.

A Dubai court denied South Africa’s request to extradite the brothers on corruption charges.

Makgotho said, "one of the general principles of international law in as far as extradition is concerned is that the crime that is alleged to have been committed by the fugitives, in this particular instance the three Gupta brothers, should be recognised as a crime in both countries."

"Extradition by its own nature is a protracted process but again, the other option that has been there which I think we seem to have missed the point is the issuing of the red notice by Interpol."

"The missing of the point occurred in the sense that it would appear that it was interpreted to mean that they have been arrested, put in jail in the United Arab Emirates."

"So through the Interpol, which remember was issued some time in June or July last year and has since lapsed, so it will then mean that this red notice should be reactivated and the Gupta brothers wherever they are, now they are alleged to have been seen in Switzerland, now they've moved to another country, but once the red notice alert is issued and the extradition papers are compiled and resubmitted, then the extradition process should ultimately commence without any further hurdles."