Atul Gupta and his brother Rajesh allegedly leveraged their close ties to South Africa’s government to build a business empire. South Africa’s justice minister said that the United Arab Emirates had refused the extradition of two India-born brothers who were allegedly at the center of a large government corruption scandal in Africa’s most developed economy. South African authorities say that Atul and Rajesh Gupta for years leveraged their close ties to former President Jacob Zuma and other senior officials in the ruling African National Congress to build a business empire that once stretched from media to mining. Failure to try them in South Africa would be a big blow for President Cyril Ramaphosa , who took over in 2018 after the ANC ousted Mr. Zuma largely because of his alleged ties to the Gupta brothers.

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