U.S. Sanctions Guptas, Essa Over Corruption in South Africa

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury imposed sanction against four businessmen who it said were members of “a significant corruption network” in South Africa and had paid bribes and used other underhand measures to influence government appointments and contracts.

The sanctions were levied against brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta, and Salim Essa, said Sigal Mandelker, the Treasury’s under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. The four have all denied wrongdoing.

“The Guptas and Essa have used their influence with prominent politicians and parties to line their pockets with ill-gotten gains,” Mandelker said in a statement. “We will continue to exclude from the U.S. financial system those who profit from corruption.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in New York at cdodge1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Mike Cohen

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