{"id":4466,"date":"2017-06-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/amabhungane\/stories\/correspondence-shows-ashu-chawla-repeatedly-asked-home-affairs-officials-to-fast-track-visas-to-benefit-gupta-businesses\/"},"modified":"2024-09-22T21:05:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-22T21:05:44","slug":"guptaleaks-delhi-daredevils-staff-member-contacted-guptas-for-visa-assistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/guptaleaks-delhi-daredevils-staff-member-contacted-guptas-for-visa-assistance\/","title":{"rendered":"#GuptaLeaks: Delhi Daredevils staff member contacted Guptas for visa assistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leaked emails show that a visa application for somebody connected to the Delhi Daredevils cricket team was expedited when the side made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League T20 in South Africa in 2012. But only after he contacted Ajay Gupta directly.<\/p>\n

Much has been written about Malusi Gigaba\u2019s time as Home Affairs Minister. Particularly how a senior Gupta employee, Ashu Chawla, repeatedly asked officials to fast-track visas to benefit Gupta businesses. Now further leaks show that these officials were pulling favours even before he took up the post.<\/p>\n

The Gupta family\u2019s love for cricket is well known. Their company, Sahara, had key sponsorships at a number of South Africa\u2019s most loved cricket grounds. More details of their relationships with cricket officials will be revealed at a later stage.<\/p>\n

But this particular incident is about more than cricket. It once again asks serious questions about the influence the family has been able to yield at a number of South Africa\u2019s government institutions \u2013 and under whose watch it happened.<\/p>\n

This story is about a senior official with an Indian Premier League (IPL) team who contacted Ajay Gupta directly when South Africa hosted the now defunct Champions League T20 in 2012.<\/p>\n

The tournament that shifted from India to South Africa took place in May that year and the qualified teams knew months beforehand that they would need to follow due process.<\/p>\n

Yet, it appears a gentleman by the name of Amrit Mathur, using a private email with a Delhi Daredevils signature, saw no need for such protocol \u2013 having friends in high places.<\/p>\n

The only Amrit Mathur linked to the Delhi team is the COO.<\/p>\n

On 17 October 2012, seven days before the Delhi Daredevils were due to play the Highveld Lions in the semi-finals of the tournament, he sent an email to Ajay saying: \u201cNeed your help to get a visa quickly for SA for the CLT 20. Can I get in touch with some official in the High Commission in Delhi ?\u201d [sic]<\/p>\n

The next day, Mathur also emailed Ronica Ragavan, who at the time was Oakbay\u2019s financial director, saying: \u201cAppreciate your help to expedite grant of visa.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cI would ideally like to travel to South Africa night of Saturday 20th October. Let me know the way forward, specially if I have to contact someone in Delhi after you have put in a word. [sic]\u201d<\/p>\n

Chawla requested a few documents and within a couple of days Mathur\u2019s visa was granted, with a note that it was ready for collection from \u201csecurity at embassy not VFS\u201d. VFS is the intermediary for visa applications.<\/p>\n

After his return from the Champions League, Mathur again emailed Ajay, thanking him for his assistance.<\/p>\n

It is not clear from the email correspondence how the two know each other. However, the family did play a key role in bringing the IPL to South Africa in 2009. It seems Mathur knew that the Guptas had friends in high places.<\/p>\n

These timelines paint a curious picture. The request was made just a few weeks after Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma abandoned her post as Minister of Home Affairs to take up the African Union job. Naledi Pandor was running the department at the time.<\/p>\n

Scorpio contacted both Mathur and Gupta spokesperson Gary Nadioo to request comment. Neither responded.<\/p>\n

The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism produced this story. Like it? Bean amaB supporter<\/a> and help us domore. Know more? Send us <\/em>a tip-off.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Correspondence shows Ashu Chawla repeatedly asked Home Affairs officials to fast-track visas to benefit Gupta businesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30624,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4466\/revisions\/30624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}