Anti-apartheid campaigner and former UK cabinet minister Lord Peter Hain said he was pleased that Gupta brothers Rajesh and Atul Gupta had been arrested in the United Arab Emirates(UAE).
Hain, speaking to a national broadcaster, said he believed that the arrests should have taken place sooner.
The brothers and other members of the Gupta family were placed on Interpol’s red notice list last year in connection with the R25 million Nulane investments matter, which is currently in court in South Africa.
They were arrested in the UAE last week and remain in custody as the UAE and the South African government now go through the extradition process.
The family fled South Africa in 2016.
Hain, who raised the issue of state capture in South Africa in 2017 and later testified at the state capture inquiry, said: “Frankly, this should have happened years ago. This is now years since they fled the country.”
“I will be pressing the British government to talk to the UAE government in the hope that the extradition will occur because they must be brought to justice. Otherwise, it will happen again.
“We know that corruption and forms of state capture have not ended in South Africa and that (there are) people who want to continue to climb onto the gravy train and loot so shamelessly from taxpayers, stopping money from being spent on housing and health services and schools, must understand they will face justice.”
Hain said getting the Guptas to face justice and trial in South Africa is a very important symbol of reality and the determination of authorities.
He said good relations on an international level and justice demands that the extradition process move along swiftly.