Nulane corruption case revived: Sharma, Gupta associates back in court over R24.9m deal

Seven accused, including businessman Iqbal Sharma, his company Nulane Investments, Gupta-linked associates and several former Free State Department of Agriculture (FSDoA) officials, are back on the path to trial after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) revived the Nulane corruption case centred on an alleged R24.9 million scheme linked to the controversial Vrede dairy farm project.

The Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday postponed the matter to 20 January 2027 for a pre-trial conference at the Bloemfontein High Court, as the State prepares to pursue the case after the SCA overturned the accused’s acquittal.

Reinstatement

SCA Judge Cagney John Musi handed down judgment in June 2025. The ruling favoured the state to reinstate the matter.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) reinstated the case on 4 June, following the SCA ruling.

Accused

The accused include Sharma and his company, Nulane Investment; former head of FSDoA Peter Thabethe; former head of FSDoA Limakatso Moorosi; former FSDoA Chief Financial Officer Seipati Dhlamini; Ronica Ragavan and the company she represents, Islandsite Investment, owned by the Guptas; and Dinesh Patel, Sharma’s brother-in-law.

They are accused of acting in common purpose in the alleged irregular payment of R24.9 million by the FSDoA to a Gupta-linked company, Nulane Investment, to conduct a feasibility study for a flagship “Mohoma Mobung Project” which ultimately led to the establishment of the Vrede/Estina Dairy Farm project.

Investigations

Investigations found that Nulane contracted Deloitte to conduct the study and paid it R1.5 million, far below the R24.9 million it was paid.

It’s alleged that the only change to the Deloitte report was identifying Paras Dairy. Paras was named as a suitable implementing partner to develop a milk processing plant in Vrede.

State capture

The Nulane case was the first state-capture case from IDAC to be brought to trial.

It is also the same case in which the South African government failed to extradite Atul and Rajesh Gupta from the UAE. They faced charges of fraud and money laundering.