Gupta brothers (Ajay, Atul and Rajesh)

In the past week the National Prosecuting Authority has issued orders for the seizure of billions of rand in assets belonging to the politically-connected Gupta family including the Estina dairy farm project in Free State province which is at the centre of an investigation into the misuse of state funds and money laundering...

It has also frozen the bank account of Atul Gupta in charge of the Gupta finances...

6 billion ($134 million) diverted from the state electricity provider Eskom to Trillian a company with links to the Guptas...

' So far Magashule and his son who works for the Guptas have denied all wrongdoing...

However investigations into the Guptas' companies are speeding up and there are reports that one of their key associates Salim Essa has turned state's evidence and will testify at the Eskom parliamentary hearings (AC Vol 59 No 1 Pushing Zuma to the exit)...

April 2016: South Africa's four major banks close accounts with the Guptas' companies...

2 November 2016: Outgoing Public Protector Thuli Madonsela issues 'State Capture' report on the Guptas' political influence calling on Zuma to appoint a Commission of Inquiry headed by a judge...

30 May 2017: The extent of the Guptas' political influence is revealed to the media in over 100 000 emails leaked by security operatives...

The NPA's Asset Forfeiture Unit moves to freeze Atul Gupta's bank account and seize the R220-million Dairy Farm project in the Free State province...

Whatever compromises he makes with the Zuma loyalists Ramaphosa cannot fully establish his credibility unless he can purge the ministers most strongly associated with the government's business deals and favours with the Guptas...

Gigaba was a supporter of the Guptas as Home Affairs Minister and is widely regarded as being part of Zuma's inner circle of patronage...

They want to dilute the mandate of the inquiry perhaps by expanding its scope and taking the focus away from the Zuma family and its business partners the Guptas (AC Vol 57 No 22 A week of defeats for Zuma)...

HSBC one of Britain's biggest banks has been accused by a British peer of complicity in a US$500 million money-laundering scheme organised by businesses controlled by the Gupta family close allies of President Jacob Zuma...

He called on Hammond to ensure HSBC's ties with the Guptas were cut urgently prior to a criminal investigation...

'This information shows illegal transfers of funds from South Africa made by the Gupta family over the last few years from their South African bank accounts held with a British bank to accounts held with the same bank in Dubai and Hong Kong ' Hain told the Lords...

Hain said he had been 'stunned' by the extent of the Guptas' money-laundering and their 'facilitation of a transnational financial crime network'...

New information indicated that the Guptas had shifted the focus of money-laundering to the metal-recycling sector said Hain citing the same whistle-blowers in South Africa...

During question time in the Lords last month Hain disclosed that the Chancellor had agreed to launch an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office and other law enforcement agencies to establish whether the British banks HSBC and Standard Chartered and India's Bank of Baroda had been involved in money-laundering linked to the Guptas' network...

By the end of last year all of South Africa's banks were refusing to operate accounts for the Guptas' companies...

Hain is handing over several documents about the Guptas' financial transitions to the regulatory authorities in the United States and the European Union...

British public relations company Bell Pottinger was forced to close after it admitted working with the Guptas on a racially-charged political campaign...

Although the British-based KPMG auditors and the US's McKinsey Consulting have made qualified apologies for their operations with the Guptas the reputational damage continues with both companies likely to be embroiled in protracted lawsuits...

Last week Hain produced a list of 27 names (along with their bank account details and identity numbers) to be investigated as part of Gupta-gate: it included President Zuma ten members of his family the three Gupta brothers and eight members of their family...

Now many of the cases involving Zuma's business allies the Guptas are likely to be heard outside the country...

Mabuza although not seen as one of the surrogates of the Guptas – three billionaire Indian brothers alleged to have engineered Zuma's capture of state institutions – has been involved in his own circle of patronage in a province once seen as the most corrupt (AC Vol 58 No 19 )...

The government is in disarray over how to handle the deepening crisis unleashed by the auditing firm KPMG's involvement in the affairs of the Guptas and the 'state capture' phenomenon in which so many global companies have become complicit...

The Gupta brothers have been accused by a government watchdog of 'improperly influencing the award of government contracts' (AC Vol 57 No 21 Stalwarts push for Zuma's exit & Vol 58 No 13 Factional fireworks threaten party)...

The company apologised for benefiting from its contract with the Gupta brothers and undertook to repay R23 million ($1...

The United Kingdom-based public relations company Bell Pottinger was forced to close following an independent investigation into its campaign to polish the image of the Guptas by exploiting racial and socio-economic divisions in South Africa...

Other major international brands such as McKinsey and the German software giant SAP have dismissed executives and apologised for improper conduct relating to the Guptas...

In a grovelling public apology after 18 months of silence auditing giant KPMG admitted that its senior executives in South Africa had 'made mistakes' and 'ignored red flags' in working for the Gupta family...

) to charities as recompense for the consultancy fees it received from state-owned companies which were facilitated by the Guptas...

But KPMG is the latest global company to have paid a heavy price for working for the Gupta family...

The London-based public relations firm Bell Pottinger has applied for receivership after a string of its major clients abandoned it following media coverage of its campaigns for the Guptas...

The CEO of management consultant McKinsey's South Africa office has resigned and the company is investigating its work done for South Africa's state-owned power utility Eskom and Trillion another consulting company linked to the Guptas...

'Given the scale of the Guptas' patronage and web of kick-backs it would be almost impossible for a company dealing with Gupta front companies to prove that it was not receiving funds emanating from a corrupt relationship ' said the head of a London-based risk consultancy focusing on Africa...

A leading British investor who has researched the leaked emails detailing the Guptas' correspondence has estimated that the Gupta brothers moved about 15 billion rand ($1...

In the meantime the Guptas have begun a fire-sale of their assets and are negotiating the sale of their coal-mining interests to a Middle Eastern buyer for around 2...

Analysts said that banks will scrutinise the sale to ensure that it is not an attempt by the Guptas to gain banking access via a proxy...

) from another buyer was turned down by the Guptas...

South Africa's four leading banks cut the Guptas' access to accounts a year ago and the Bank of Baroda an Indian bank which was their last channel to pay staff cut access at the end of August...

On 28 August the President's son Duduzane Zuma the chief instrument of Gupta patronage launched a scathing attack on Gordhan in an open letter denying all charges made against himself and the Guptas...

The Gupta brothers meanwhile are having to offload some of their assets as banks and financial institutions deny them access for fear of breaking strict money-laundering regulations...

The coalition known as Future South Africa which encompasses organisations such as Save South Africa Section 27 Freedom under Law and Corruption Watch seeks to tackle what it calls the 'state capture' by the Gupta brothers and to 'rebuild state integrity'...

) bribe by the Guptas to take over the Finance Ministry and do their bidding which they deny...

In recent months the Zuma-led faction of the ANC has suffered a string of political defeats and the extent of the Gupta brothers' political influence was exposed after some 200 000 emails between the Guptas and corporate and government stakeholders were leaked to the media two months ago (AC Vol 58 No 13 Factional fireworks threaten party)...

In recent months the Zuma-led faction of the ANC has suffered a string of political defeats and the extent of the Gupta brothers' political influence was exposed after some 200 000 emails between the Guptas and corporate and government stakeholders were leaked to the media two months ago (AC Vol 58 No 13 Factional fireworks threaten party)...

Although the allegations about the Gupta family's influence over appointments to state-owned entities and ministerial office and over state procurement are well-known and largely believed the eight-gigabyte cache of email traffic has provided hitherto-lacking corroboration...

Ministers and President Jacob Zuma's own Chief Operations Officer Lakela Kaunda have authenticated the accounts of their meetings and business dealings with the Guptas which are mentioned in the emails...

Records of meetings their timing and lists of those present have vindicated earlier reports and substantiated the recommendations of former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report on 'state capture' by the Guptas (AC Vol 58 No 12 Zuma's chaos theory)...

Even Zuma loyalists are now openly criticising the Guptas...

Their focus is Madonsela's report which her successor as Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has not followed up and the danger that the Guptas and related patronage issues could influence December's conference...

They include a court ruling against the massive nuclear deal with Russia the cancellation of a deal with the state arms manufacturer Denel which heavily favoured the Guptas and the removal of both the Gupta-friendly Chief Executive Officer of power utility Eskom Matshela Koko and Eskom Chairperson Ben Ngubane (see Table)...

The state electricity corporation was facilitating major deals that enriched the Guptas (AC Vol 57 No 23 Starting the post-Zuma race)...

The deeply divided ANC is facing rival notions of its 'radical economic transformation' policy and its campaign against 'white monopoly capital' both of which have become rallying cries – aided by the London-based Bell Pottinger public relations company in defence of the Guptas (before it ended the contract in April) – for the pro-Zuma faction (AC Vol 58 No 10 Everyone's fault but Zuma's & No place to hide)...

What emerges from the leaked Gupta email cache is a system whereby the Guptas – through befriending Jacob Zuma's son Duduzane – have obtained influence with a series of party officials who once appointed to the cabinet on their recommendation have then directly chosen and appointed senior ministerial advisors...

The 'captured' ministers and advisors were then asked to pack the boards of state-owned enterprises with the Guptas' cronies enabling them to position their companies as the beneficiaries of billions of rands in state contracts...

The emails also include references to the multinational public relations firm Bell Pottinger which has acted on behalf of the Guptas – championing in particular the use of the phrase 'white monopoly capital' to deflect criticism...

Zuma also met Bell Pottinger representatives on two occasions in early 2016 by which time it was working for the Guptas and he specifically asked them to take care of his son Duduzane and ensure that his ex-wife was elected ANC President in December according to an account of the meetings by the company which AC has seen...

Duduzane had been found by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report on state capture to be intertwined in a deeply corrupt relationship with the Gupta brothers and has facilitated access to state-funded contracts in return for his education participation in the business and a residence in Dubai...