Gupta's party plane on "official business"

"The senior Indian officials and their delegations were in South Africa for bilateral engagements with the Free State government‚" according to a statement released by the High Commission.

According to the commission the visit of Shivpal Singh Yadav‚ minister of public works and irrigation and the delegation with the minister‚ was an official visit‚ which took place at the invitation of the Free State government.

"A memorandum of intent was signed between the Free State and Uttar Pradesh government for a broad based co-operation agreement covering economic development‚ irrigation and agriculture." Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state of India‚ with around 200m people.

Several other senior ministers and dignitaries from Uttar Pradesh were also in the plane. The aircraft‚ chartered by the Gupta family‚ was carrying 270 wedding guests‚ landed at Waterkloof on 30 April.

The guests on the flight included minister of minority welfare affairs Azam Khan‚ minister for rural engineering Rajendra Singh Rana‚ and speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Mata Prasad.

Received authorisation

The commission said the SA Air Force gave authorisation for landing the aircraft on 9 April.

"The request was made with a view to ensure appropriate security arrangements and courtesies for the visiting dignitaries in accordance with normal practice." The mission said it submitted its initial request to use the Waterkloof "military airport" on 28 February. Subsequent communications occurred in April with South Africa's Air Command Unit of the Air Force Command Post.

On Sunday (19 May)‚ Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said the wealthy Gupta family used diplomatic channels when it failed to get landing rights from ministers and the Airports Company SA.

"The investigating team has conclusively found that in February the Gupta family approached the Airports Company SA and requested landing rights and an elaborate reception for the wedding party‚" Radebe said.

"This would have disrupted the functioning of OR Tambo International Airport at the time of landing‚ particularly the operations of the national immigration branch at the airport." The request was turned down.

In March the Guptas approached Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and her adviser on different occasions‚ Radebe said.

"On 3 April this request was also turned down." The Guptas then resorted to diplomatic channels‚ with the support of an individual at the Indian High Commission.

"This person re-designated the wedding entourage as an official delegation to enable them to use the base under the cover of diplomatic privilege‚" said Radebe.

Guests were attending the wedding of Vega Gupta and Aakash Jahajgarhia at Sun City.

Source: Sapa via I-Net Bridge