FUGITIVE Atul Gupta has lost his bid to get a new South African passport.
This after the North Gauteng High Court said he is a fugitive and does not deserve a passport.
The judgment was delivered on Friday, 20 January and he was also ordered to carry the cost.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi welcomed the judgment, which confirmed that Gupta is a fugitive from justice and therefore does not qualify for a South African passport, as the department had contended.
Motsoaledi's spokesman Siya Qoza said on 25 September 2018 that having fled South Africa in the advent of the Gupta leaks, Gupta approached the Consul General of South Africa in Dubai to apply for a passport.
He said the department rejected this application after receiving confirmation from the NPA that a warrant of arrest was issued against him in connection with criminal offences of fraud and money-laundering related to the Vrede Dairy Project.
"In February 2021, Gupta approached the court seeking to force the department to issue him with a new South African passport. He claimed that he had a constitutional right to a passport as a citizen of South Africa. He further said that the Constitution states that nobody should be deprived of their citizenship," said Qoza.
He said that the department defended that court application and challenged Gupta to indicate if he would be prepared to come to South Africa if the court were to order him to do so.
"Gupta said he would have to take legal advice on the issue," said Qoza.
He said on Friday, the judge found that if Gupta indeed is not a fugitive from justice, why would he need legal advice whether he ought to come to this country for whatever reason.
The High Court judgment read: "All that he (Gupta) seems prepared to state is that he is a South African citizen resident in Dubai. Nothing further is disclosed. I am of the view that this was not oversight on the applicant's side, but was deliberate."
The court further made an order that the applicant is a fugitive from justice, secondly the applicant has no locus standi to approach this court for relief in the circumstances. Thirdly, Gupta is to pay the cost of this application.
In welcoming the judgment, Motsoaledi said the court has delivered an important confirmation that the laws of the country must be respected, and they are applicable to all.
"Friday's judgment shows that you cannot want to escape accountability in a country and seek to enjoy the use of documents that are exclusively reserved for law-abiding citizens of that country," said the minister.
