Sharma’s brother-in-law, Dinesh Patel, is accused number 6 of 17 in the 2011 Vrede Dairy feasibility study criminal case. On 28 October 2011, Patel reportedly signed a near R25 million fraudulent agreement on behalf of Nulane Investment- owned by Sharma - with the Free State Agriculture Department for a study that was meant to ascertain the feasibility of the Vrede Dairy Project under the "Mohoma Mobung" initiative. 

While Patel was arrested alongside his four co-accused on 2 June 2021 in Johannesburg, his appearance was delayed due to illness. His appearance comes after the same courthouse denied Sharma bail due to his access to wealth and assets outside of the country that might enable him to flee. The government officials embroiled in the saga - Peter Thabethe, Sylvia Dlamini, and Limakatso Moorosi - have each been granted R10 000 bail.

Signing the agreement was not all that Patel did, he allegedly was involved in roping in Deloitte to conduct the feasibility study for the Agriculture Department as a sub-contractor for only R1,5 million. This is despite Sharma’s company charging almost R25 million for the same job. Nulane Investment then subcontracted the work already carried out by Deloitte to Gateway Limited - and paid them R19 million.

It remains unknown if Sharma will appeal the denial of bail. His attorney, Shaheed Dollie, kept mum when asked by OFM News if they intended to appeal Magistrate Estelle de Lange’s decision. In her bail judgment, De Lange said last week Tuesday that Sharma’s legal team, made up of instructing attorney Dollie and advocate Stephanus Johannes Coetzee, failed to prove that the business consultant’s release out on bail would be in the interest of justice.

The spokesperson for the NPA's investigating directorate, Sindisiwe Seboka, said that they are happy with the outcome. “This particular man has left the country over a hundred times between 2019 and 2021 to various countries across the world in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Should he have fled, we would not know where to find him,” says Seboka. The NPA says they can now focus on the next step of the case.

Sharma has, in his affidavit, distanced himself from the running of Nulane Investment and said he was “not the controlling mind” of the company. The state said that this is an extraordinary contention to advance, given that he was the sole director and shareholder of Nulane Investment at all times. The company no longer exists. He has also denied his ties to the Gupta family.

OFM News