Disclaimer: This article is an unedited, unmodified extract from The SydneyMorning Herald article by award winning Australian journalist Nick McKenzie (who was won the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year twice and Kennedy Award for journalist of the year), released on March 9, 2024 In the early hours of June 19, 2013, a panic-wracked Australian businessman boarded an international flight and held his breath. Hours earlier, Amit Gupta's Gold Coast home had been raided by the federal police.

Investigators had spent weeks tapping Gupta's phone, probing sensational allegations he had backed a political coup on the small Pacific Island of Nauru by bribing multiple politicians who had plotted to topple the government. The new government, Gupta hoped, would give him complete control over the island nation's lucrative mining rights, but an arrest now could mean years in jail.

If these moments of apprehension, with the Australian police snapping at his heels, were Gupta's low point, they were fleeting. As his plane soared into the morning sky, his future stretched out brightly ahead.

In the decade since, this alleged corporate crime kingpin and fugitive from justice has built a global business worth an estimated $800 million.

This masthead has tracked Gupta to Dubai where, late last year, he got more good news: Australian efforts to extradite him had collapsed, rebuffed by the

Dubai authorities over a legal technicality. Gupta had defeated the AFP's extradition attempt using a legal technicality.

Australian police alleged he had engaged in a conspiracy to bribe Nauruan politicians over a decade earlier, but Gupta argued that given no such crime existed in the United Arab Emirates at the time of his alleged offending, he could not be extradited. The UAE authorities agreed and threw out the extradition request. That was in February 2023, but the development has not been reported until now.

The Nauru bribery scandal first erupted in 2010, when a report in The Australian alleged Australian police and intelligence agencies were scrutinising a plot by the then Gold Coast-based Gupta and his relatives to use bribery to effectively transform Nauru into a puppet state, with its only industry -phosphate mining - entirely controlled by Gupta's business interests.

It took the AFP two years, in October 2012, to tap Gupta's phone. Eight months later, they raided his Gold Coast home. In 2015, this masthead and the ABC reported on allegations that charges might be imminent. By then Gupta was two years on the lam.
Gupta's emails expose a systemic alleged bribery operation targeting Nauru's most powerful politicians with the aim of winning preference for his and his family's business, and particularly exclusive rights to phosphate and long, ongoing contracts. In doing so, his dealings threatened the political stability of the island nation of 13,000 people and stood to poison its democracy.

Records of Gupta company transactions obtained by this masthead suggest Gupta's questionable corporate behaviour from his Gold Coast base extended well beyond Nauru and the phosphate industry. Banking records suggest Gupta's companies also paid suspected bribes to senior Algerian officials for mining concessions in Africa, used a poverty-stricken Indian man as a "straw man" director of one his companies, and issued fake invoices for phosphate bought from countries such as Togo.

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.

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.

Agrifields DMCC. It is the name of the global fertiliser firm Gupta launched after fleeing Australia.

The controversial promoter of Agrifields DMCC — a rock-phosphate and fertiliser firm — Amit Gupta is coming under mounting pressure as the case pursued by the Australian Federal Police against him and his former organisation Getax progresses. 

In an article by award-winning journalist Nick McKenzie of the Sydney Morning Herald — who twice won the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year and the Kennedy Award for Journalist of the Year — it is stated: “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 and Nick McKenzie published another investigation, claiming that Gupta is an “alleged corporate crime kingpin and fugitive from justice has built a global business worth an estimated $800 million.” They also noted that “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 further remarked, “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 Getax/Amit Gupta matter has become Australia’s largest bribery, taxevasion, money-laundering and corruption investigation, with hundreds of banks, individuals, entities, business deals and connections now under scrutiny. The Australian Federal Police have declared that the money-trail, business associations, “straw men”, business partners, and funds flowing in and out are being probed — which includes voice-recorded transcripts, emails and telephone messages now in their custody. 

According to the publication, the Australian government has seized or frozen accounts and assets belonging to many entities and individuals tied, directly or indirectly, to Gupta — including firms in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia — and is said to be expanding its focus to India via cooperation with the Indian government. This is due to Amit Gupta’s significant financial holdings, transactions and dealings with various Indian entities, including companies such as Coromandel International and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers. In India, multiple government departments are scrutinising his business arrangements and financial affairs, including the Income Tax Department of India, which issued multiple income-tax notices to Gupta and his family between 22 March 2022 and 7 July 2022 totalling more than ₹1,700 crore. 

Gupta also faces a ₹700 crore fraud case in India concerning the real-estate firm Sunland Projects Pvt Ltd, involving an improper 33.33% share transfer and the striking-off of a loan — though this is not directly tied to the Australian Federal Police case. According to Business Insider Africa, in 2019 Agrifields DMCC, together with two other entities, acquired Baobab Mining & Chemicals Corporation — a phosphate plant 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 advanced a further US$9.7 million as a loan. Global media through 2022, 2023 and 2024 — including investigative journalist Nick McKenzie — released reports that detailed the worldwide criminal probes, travel bans and other allegations of fraud, forgery and corporate crime facing Gupta. 

Following these developments, two of Gupta’s major business associates have scaled back or terminated their partnerships with him. These include the Philphos (Salvador Zamora II-controlled) entity (with business dealings with Gupta dropping by 99% since 2023, per public records) and Coromandel International, which has since acquired 72% of Baobab International and is reportedly planning to buy out Gupta entirely. 

Despite this, Coromandel International continues to source rock phosphate and other raw materials from Gupta — including from Algeria and his plant in Senegal — for reasons that remain unclear. 
Publicly available data and trade logs suggest a longstanding trading relationship between Gupta and Coromandel, with funds transferred from Coromandel International to Gupta-linked entities likely totalling billions of dollars since the early 2000s — including at least US$334 million (approximately ₹2,850 crore) in the last year according to Trademo and regulatory filings. 
As noted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), in 2008 “When the world price rose to almost $400 in 2008, Getax was paying as little as $43 per metric tonne.” 
Gupta’s largest revenue stream — at least in 2008 — was Coromandel 

International, and trade data indicate that this continues to be the case today.  Updates on Amit Gupta, Agrifields DMCC, the Indian government, the Income Tax Department of India, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian government and INTERPOL’s allegations against him will appear in forthcoming reports.  
Disclaimer: All media outlets referenced — including the Sydney Morning Heraldand ABC are duly cited and accessible via the highlighted links.  

Arpit Baid, Vice President and India Head at Agrifields DMCC, now finds himself under scrutiny due to his leadership role at a company connected to the controversial Amit Gupta. Gupta, who is currently under investigation for various criminal offenses across multiple jurisdictions, has cast a long shadow over Agrifields DMCC.

As Vice President and Head of India, Baid is tasked with ensuring that the company adheres to legal, financial, and corporate compliance standards, but his association with Gupta presents significant professional and personal risks.

India represents the principal market for Agrifields DMCC, with over 90% of its revenues being derived from buyers in India.

Baid's position involves overseeing the company's operations and leading its business activities in India. However, the connections to Gupta, who fled Australia in 2013 amid a criminal investigation, raise concerns regarding the ethical and legal challenges that Baid might face.

With Gupta's ongoing legal issues, Baid's leadership role is increasingly under the microscope.

Nick McKenzie, an award-winning journalist from The Sydney Morning Herald, has called Gupta a "corporate crime kingpin" and a "fugitive of justice," describing how Gupta fled Australia during a criminal probe. McKenzie also notes, "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 offenses."

As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald on March 9, 2024, "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." This significant move highlights the scale of Gupta's legal issues and the ongoing investigations into his activities.

Agrifields DMCC, under Baid's leadership, is linked to Gupta, who launched the global fertilizer company after fleeing Australia. As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, "Agrifields DMCC is the name of the global fertilizer firm Gupta launched after fleeing Australia." This connection to Gupta's controversial past adds another layer of risk to Baid's professional standing.

Engaging with companies tied to individuals under investigation for corporate misconduct exposes one to potential legal, financial, and ethical risks. It is crucial for stakeholders to approach such affiliations with caution, given the serious allegations against Gupta and the potential impact on Baid's own reputation and legal standing.