Gupta mansions with mini cricket pitch, cinema and salon back for sale in Joburg - News24

Two multimillion-rand South African mansions owned by the Gupta brothers, a trio of India-born businessmen at the centre of a corruption scandal that triggered the nation’s worst political and economic crisis since apartheid, are back on the market in Johannesburg.

The seven-bedroom home where the family allegedly lived – complete with an indoor swimming pool, thatched outdoor entertainment area, mini cricket pitch, water features and a garden with endangered cycad plants – was listed on Wednesday alongside a neighbouring 11-bedroom house that boasts a beauty parlour, cinema lounge and rooftop terrace.

While the properties have asking prices of R7 million and R8 million, respectively, lower offers may be considered, online advertisements show.

The homes in Saxonwold, one of Johannesburg’s oldest and most affluent neighbourhoods, once belonged to a company linked to Atul, Rajesh and Ajay Gupta, and form part of a compound that features in the state capture scandal.

The Zondo Commission, which investigated graft involving more than 1 400 individuals and entities from 2018 to 2022, heard that the brothers held clandestine meetings at the properties. There, influential guests were offered kickbacks and even government positions to help the family and their associates influence government decisions and secure state contracts.

The listings come after a private sale of the homes fell through last year. At the time, the two properties, along with a neighbouring three-bedroom house, were sold for about 46% below their municipal value.

The Gupta brothers have been on the run since 2018.

“We’ve been battling to find buyers due to the stigma associated with the properties, and because of the poor state they’re in,” said Kurt Knoop of Manci Knoop Financial Services, the business rescue practitioners for Gupta-linked company Confident Concept. “But we have been talking to a couple of people and hope to have a sale soon.”

Proceeds from the sale of the properties will help settle claims by creditors, he said.

An open house is scheduled to take place this weekend, with interested parties required to show identification and proof of funds before viewing, the listing shows.

The Gupta brothers fled to Dubai shortly before the ANC forced Jacob Zuma to quit as president in 2018 to stem a loss of electoral support, partly due to his links to the family. The Guptas and Zuma have denied any wrongdoing.

Atul and Rajesh – wanted in South Africa on charges including money laundering and fraud, and sanctioned by both the US and UK governments – were arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2022 after Interpol placed them on its most-wanted list.

In 2023, a UAE court denied South Africa’s extradition request, and the arrest warrant was cancelled. South Africa provisionally withdrew its arrest warrant for Ajay in 2019.

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