Hawks dig for dirt at Eskom
THE tightening of the noose around those implicated in state capture intensified as the Hawks received documents from Eskom believed to be critical to unravelling alleged corruption at the state-owned entity (SOE).
This took place hours before the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) announced it had agreed to give cashstrapped Eskom a R5 billion bridging facility.
Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said there was no “search and seizure” operation at the parastatal, but that information was sought for their “state capture” investigation.
This was confirmed by Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe, who said the Hawks had requested documents relating to previous contracts at the SOE, which the entity had complied with.
“At this stage, I’m not in a position to go into the exact specifics on what kind of information the Hawks wanted,” said Phasiwe.
Asked whether the Hawks’ request had to do with the highly contentious sale of the Optimum coal mine, which was previously owned by Glencore and then Gupta-owned mining firm Tegeta in 2016, Phasiwe said he could neither confirm nor deny the link.
“Suffice to say that (the Hawks’ request) is related to contracts. As you can understand, we do deal with coal generally. So, yes, it has to do mostly with coal contracts,” Phasiwe said.
Phasiwe said no documents sought by the Hawks in this latest request had been destroyed.
“The specific information that was looked for by the Hawks has been found and has been given to them.
“But, if indeed it is true that some information has been shredded, then this will be a matter that Eskom will have to dig more into so we can find out who did what, and for what purpose. “But, at this stage, the
From Page 1 specific information that was requested by the Hawks has been found and has been submitted to them,” Phasiwe stressed.
He added that a list was provided to the power utility, which it complied with.
The sale of the Mpumalanga mine, which amounted to roughly R2.15bn, has been dogged by controversy since the transaction was concluded in April 2016, where alleged improprieties were flagged by former public protector Thuli Madonsela in her State of Capture report in October 2016.
Piers Marsden, a business rescue practitioner who headed Optimum from August 2015 until its sale, also detailed alleged corruption related to the transaction at the parliamentary inquiry into Eskom governance last November, which supposedly involved an Eskom prepayment to Tegeta of R586 million.
Marsden told the inquiry Tegeta had revealed it had a R600m shortfall on the Glencore deal.
He believed Eskom helped the controversial Gupta family purchase the Mpumalanga mine through the coal prepayment, as banks were not willing to fund the R600m shortfall.
The decision to bail Eskom out came less than a month after Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a new Eskom board before he led the South African delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.
PIC chief executive Dan Matjila said he was encouraged by the recent board and management overhaul at Eskom.
“The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) and the PIC are encouraged that the new Eskom board and the new management team have moved with the necessary speed to restore good corporate governance”