Parliament’s portfolio committee on justice and correctional services has welcomed news that the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) has obtained the go-ahead to freeze assets belonging to the politically-connected Gupta family worth R1.6-billion.

The chairperson of the committee, the African National Congress’s Mathole Motshekga, said: “The Committee expressed the wish that this process should continue without fear or favour…. Nobody is above the law.”

According to reports, the AFU successfully applied for three separate orders last month from the high courts in Pretoria and Bloemfontein, in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. It provides for the preservation of assets of defendants as well as suspects in criminal cases. If they are convicted, the assets are permanently forfeited to the State.

The Gupta family, who immigrated to South Africa from India and are friendly with President Jacob Zuma, are at the centre of an alleged web of corruption involving South Africa’s parastatals.