Two former Eskom senior managers, two business directors, and seven companies appeared in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Thursday on charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering, the Hawks and NPA said on Thursday.
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the suspects were arrested early on Thursday in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and Gauteng by the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation team and the NPA's investigative directorate.
"Former Eskom group executive: group capital division Abram Abie Masango (51), former Eskom senior manager: group capital division France Hlakudi (48), Antonio Jose Trindade (64), and Hudson Kgomoeswana (46) appeared in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Thursday afternoon for alleged fraud and corruption," Hawks' spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.
Hlakudi Translation and Interpretation CC and Bon Service Telekom CC represented by Hlakudi; Tubular Construction Projects (PTY) Ltd; Abeyla Trading (PTY) Ltd; Tubular Technical Construction (PTY) Ltd; Cosira Tubular Joint Venture (PTY) Ltd all represented by Trindade and Babinatlou Business Service CC owned by Kgomoeswana were also charged, Mulaudzi said.
One suspect is still outstanding and is believed to be in the UK. The NPA is initiating an extradition process.
Investigations started when suspicions were raised into the construction of two large projects at Medupi and Kusile power stations, Mulaudzi said.
This revealed that there was apparent gross manipulation of contractual agreements between contractors, Eskom employees and third parties at Kusile power station.
In-depth investigations pointed to a contract that was manipulated in a number of ways including, manipulation of Eskom's procurement system by senior managers, descoping the contract at Kusile without justification and with conflict of interest by the power utility's employees.
In June 2015, Eskom's Kusile Project management team submitted a request to its Procurement Committee for a mandate to negotiate and conclude a contract with Tubular Technical Construction (PTY) Ltd.
The contract was approved in 2015 for R745 million to build two Air Cooled Condensers (ACC) units at Kusile power station. It is alleged that from February 2015 to July 2017, the appointed companies, other related entities, and individuals shared approximately R30 million amongst themselves.
The suspects were granted R300,000 bail each with a further condition to surrender their passports to the investigative officer. The case has been remanded to 25 May 2020 with a possibility of further arrests.
- African News Agency (ANA)
