Bangalore: Bill Gates and Kofi Annan have expressed full support for Rajat Gupta and have also written to Jed Rakoff (a US judge) favouring him.

Gupta, who has been charged for insider trading, will be sentenced on 24^th of this month by Jed Rakoff. “I know most personally that the poor of the world have a profoundly capable and articulate advocate in Rajat Gupta,” Gates said in his letter, reports PTI.

Bill Gates said that he had co-ordinated with Gupta, a renowned philanthropist, during Gupta’s tenure as the chair of Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Gates said while he was “not in a position to comment on any of the particulars of the case against him,” he wanted to lend his voice “to round out Rajat’s profile as you consider the appropriate sentence for him.”

“Many millions of people are leading better lives - or are alive at all - thanks to the efforts he so ably supported,” Gates said in his letter.

Kofi Annan and Gupta had worked on many projects together and he wrote in the letter, “I urge you to recognize Rajat for the good he has done in the world, to give him the credit that he deserves for helping others and to take into account his efforts to improve the lives of millions of people.”