JOHANNESBURG, November 8 (ANA) – Former Eskom Managing Director Dawid Malherbe, who was found guilty of fraud and money laundering, will be sentenced in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday.
Malherbe was arrested in 2013 after Eskom alerted the Hawks of suspected irregularities in which he allegedly awarded a tender to his own company, Energy Utility Services, during his tenure as the power utility’s managing director between 2007 and 2009.
He was found guilty of fraud and money laundering in June.
On June 20, Eskom welcomed the conviction of the former managing director. The parastatal said internal investigations as well as the reports from external auditors found that Malherbe’s actions amounted to wasteful and fruitless expenditure on the part of Eskom.
The loss which Eskom endured was quantified to be in the region of R65 million. The Asset Forfeiture Unit has thus far managed to recoup about R10 million through the attachment of the accused’s assets.
“The Hawks involvement was a result of a partnership that Eskom had entered into with the government’s corruption fighting agency, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), in March 2011,” Eskom said in a statement at the time.
“The three-year partnership sought to uncover any corrupt practices or conflicts of interest, and identify risks for Eskom, including contract fraud and legal non-compliance.”
Eskom said this partnership helped it to ensure that it was ethical, well governed and had appropriate fraud detection and prevention measures in place.
– African News Agency (ANA)
