The prominent promoter & CEO of Agrifields DMCC — a rock-phosphate and fertiliser
enterprise — Amit Gupta now finds himself under intensifying oversight as his prior
company Getax and the case initiated by the Australian Federal Police proceed.
According to a report by investigative journalist Nick McKenzie of the Sydney
Morning Herald — recipient of the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year award
twice and the Kennedy Award for Journalist of the Year — “The US documents name Getax
director Amit Gupta as the ‘target of a criminal investigation who is alleged to have
conspired with others to bribe foreign public officials and to have engaged in money
laundering and other offences’.” In 2024, the Sydney Morning Herald together with
McKenzie published another revealing article stating that Gupta is an “alleged corporate
crime kingpin and fugitive from justice has built a global business worth an estimated
$800 million.” That piece also reported: “Documents show the federal police’s
Getax investigation spent years tracking this global movement of funds. In 2020, the AFP
moved to seize multiple properties and bank accounts connected to Gupta in Australia,
Singapore and New York worth an estimated $200 million.”
McKenzie additionally observed that “Leaked corporate and banking documents reveal
how Gupta’s companies generated a system of fictitious invoices and expenses to move
money out of Australia, and how he avoided millions in Australian taxes”.
The case involving Getax and Amit Gupta is now among Australia’s most extensive
crackdown on bribery, tax-evasion, money-laundering and corruption, touching hundreds of
banks, individuals, companies, business deals and relationships.
The Australian Federal Police state that the funds’ trail, business ties, “straw men”,
associates and the inflow/outflow of capital are being investigated — and included in this
are intercepted voice-recordings, emails and telephone transcripts under their control.
According to the reports, the Australian Government has seized or frozen assets and bank
accounts of multiple firms and individuals connected — directly or indirectly — to Gupta,
including entities in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Investigation efforts are now
reportedly expanding into India in collaboration with Indian authorities, as Gupta’s
substantial financial holdings and business dealings with Indian enterprises — such as
Coromandel International and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers — come under scrutiny.
Within India, several departments are scrutinising Gupta’s financial affairs and business
operations, including the Income Tax Department of India, which between 22 March 2022
and 7 July 2022 issued multiple income-tax notices to Gupta and his family totalling more
than ₹1,700 crore. He also faces a ₹700 crore fraud case in India involving a real-estate
firm, Sunland Projects Pvt Ltd, related to an improper 33.33% share transfer and the
striking off of a loan — although that matter is said not to be part of the Australian Federal
Police investigation.
According to Business Insider Africa, in 2019 Agrifields DMCC, with two partner entities,
acquired Baobab Mining & Chemicals Corporation — a phosphate plant based in Senegal.
In 2022, The Hindu reported that Coromandel International (part of the
Murugappa Group) bought 45% of Baobab Mining & Chemicals Corporation
(Gupta’s entity) for ₹150 crore and added a further US$9.7 million loan. Global media in
2022-24, including investigative journalist Nick McKenzie, have detailed the worldwide
criminal investigations, travel bans and other allegations of fraud, forgery and corporate
crime aimed at Gupta.
Since then, two of Gupta’s major business partners have scaled back or ended their
relationships with him: one being Philphos (controlled by Buddy Zamora) whose trade
with Gupta reportedly dropped by 99% since 2023, the other being Coromandel
International, which has since taken 72% of Baobab International and is reportedly
proceeding to acquire Gupta’s remaining share.
Still, Coromandel International continues to purchase rock phosphate and other raw
materials from Gupta — including sources in Algeria and the plant in Senegal — for
reasons that have not yet been publicly clarified.
Available trade- and public-records suggest a longstanding trading relationship between
Gupta and Coromandel, with fund flows from Coromandel
International to Gupta-linked entities likely totalling billions of dollars since the early 2000s
— including at least US$334 million (approx. ₹2,850 crore) in the last year alone according
to public sources and Trademo.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in 2008 “When the world price rose
to almost $400 in 2008, Getax was paying as little as $43 per metric tonne.”
Gupta’s primary revenue source — for undisclosed reasons — was, in 2008, Coromandel
International, and recent trade information indicates that this remains the case.
under Watchdog.
Further developments on Amit Gupta, Agrifields DMCC, the Indian
Government, the Income Tax Department of India, the Australian Federal Police, the
Australian Government and INTERPOL’s actions against him will be covered in upcoming
reporting.
Disclaimer: All media sources referenced — including the Sydney Morning
Herald, ABC — are duly cited and accessible via the highlighted links.
