The new investigating directorate, established to tackle state capture and other high-profile cases, struck for the first time on Thursday, hauling in two former Eskom executives for alleged corruption related to the construction of the troubled Kusile power plant.
Mangope Hlakudi, former contract manager at Kusile, and his former boss, Abram Masango, former executive of group capital at Eskom, appeared on Thursday in the magistrate’s court in Johannesburg together with Antonio Jose Da Costa Trindade and Maphoko Kgomoeswana.
The four, who also represented the businesses involved in the alleged corruption, are accused of fraud, corruption and money laundering.
They were arrested earlier in the day in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng. They will be held in custody until they post bail of R300,000 each.
One of the other accused, Michael Lomas, is still at large.
The Hawks elite police investigating unit and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) investigating directorate said they had investigated deals involving the construction of new coal power stations Medupi and Kusile.
Both of these power stations were hit by severe cost overruns and delays that contributed to the country’s power crisis.
Hermione Cronje, director of the NPA unit established by President Cyril Ramaphosa in a bid to provide the authority with extra teeth, said earlier in 2019 that state-owned enterprises, such as Eskom, formed one of the key areas that the directorate would focus on.
Eskom, which economists and ratings agencies have described as the biggest risk to the country’s economy, had to embark on stage 6 load-shedding, the highest level so far, due to a lack of capacity earlier in December.
The Hawks and NPA said their investigation revealed that there had been “apparent gross manipulation of contractual agreements” between contractors, Eskom employees and third parties at the Kusile power station. This case involves a R745m contract to build two air-cooled condenser units at Kusile.
It is alleged that from February 2015 to July 2017 the accused companies and other related entities and individuals shared about R30m among themselves.
Magistrate Albertus Roux said on Thursday afternoon that the alleged crimes were not only against the complainants but also against the people of SA.
The matter was postponed to May 25 when it will be resumed at the specialised commercial crime court, sitting in Palm Ridge.
Eskom said in a statement that it would work with law-enforcement agencies to “root out corruption” at the power utility.
“While we observe the legal principle of presumption of innocence, Eskom will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that perpetrators of corruption and malfeasance are brought to book.”
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said in a statement on Thursday that it was busy with a “much wider” probe that involved four main contractors and also many subcontractors at Kusile.
The SIU said that it had found through its own investigation that some companies were “used as conduits for corrupt payments” to Eskom managers.
With Bloomberg
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