South African prosecutors moved to freeze 1.6 billion rand ($130 million) of assets held by McKinsey & Co. and a company linked to the Guptas, the first significant response to corruption allegations against the politically connected family.
McKinsey earned about 1 billion rand in consultancy fees from Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. in 2016, but has since pledged to pay it back after being drawn into allegations the Guptas used their friendship with President Jacob Zuma to win lucrative government contracts. Trillian Capital Partners, in which a Gupta family associate is a former shareholder, received cash from power provider Eskom at about the same time as McKinsey. The Guptas and Zuma have denied wrongdoing.
