Bloemfontein - The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says Varun Gupta, who is one of the accused in the Vrede Integrated Dairy Project scandal, should not be allowed to leave the country because he failed to meet part of his bail conditions.
NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku says Varun who wants to travel to India for a religious ceremony was supposed to inform the State at least six weeks before travelling but failed to do so.
“When they were granted bail, we formulated very stringent bail conditions,” said Mfaku in an interview.
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Mfaku was speaking ahead of the delivery of a judgment in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on Friday for an application made by Varun to allow him to travel to for the ceremony.
“One of those conditions was that when they want to travel abroad, they must give the State six weeks’ notice to allow the investigating officer to investigate the circumstances of where they are going and whether there is a possibility that they might not come back.
“The accused never complied with that, hence matter is in court. We argued… We cannot be amenable to that kind of arrangement,” he added.
Varun, who is a nephew to the controversial Gupta brothers, approached the court last week seeking a relaxation of his bail conditions to allow him to travel to India.
He facing criminal charges relating to the Vrede Integrated Dairy Project where millions of rands meant to benefit emerging black farmers in the Free State were allegedly misappropriated.
He was charged on February 18 together with seven other people.