A former MP is among seven people arrested for alleged corruption and expected to appear in the Palm Ridge specialised commercial crimes court on Wednesday.
The suspects, including high-ranking officials and company directors, handed themselves over to the Hawks serious commercial crime investigation unit in Gauteng on Wednesday morning.
Hawks spokesperson Brig Thandi Mbambo said the suspects were arrested after a forensic report by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) into a tender issued in October 2016 by the Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development requesting proposals to integrate and formalise waste operatives into the mainstream waste management economy.
“A tender of about R27m was awarded to Enviro-Mobi in March 2017. The contract agreement between the department and Enviro-Mobi stipulated the department may consider to pay on condition that 50% of the work has been completed and no upfront payments may be made to the service provider,” she said.
However, it was established during the investigation that R25m was paid to Enviro-Mobi for 200 motorised three-wheelers, “though all goods were still in the possession of the service provider”.
The tuk-tuks, or karikis as they were called, were intended for 58 waste pickers in the Ekurhuleni municipality but they were not delivered.
It was also discovered that the service provider later issued a letter of demand to the department for a further payment of more than R9m for safekeeping, storage and ancillary services for the fleet.
“The company also failed to disclose, in its bid proposal, its affiliation to the politician who was an MP and misrepresented to the department that it had supplied the fleet as well as fleet-related services,” said Mbambo.
A case was registered at the Johannesburg Central police station in October 2020, prompting the Hawks investigation.
“The suspects will be charged with fraud, theft, contravention of the Public Finance Management Act and the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.”
TimesLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.