Former Eskom executives in firing line amid graft probe

ESKOM has roped in the SA Revenue Service (Sars), the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to go after former employees and suppliers implicated in malfeasance at the power utility.

A number of former top Eskom executives and companies are in the firing line for the widespread looting at the power utility over a number of years.

Eskom says it is gunning for all previous senior employees who had left its employment and were implicated in malfeasance of any sort. “In its efforts to recover financial losses against suppliers and former employees, Eskom is working closely with Sars, the SIU, the Hawks, and the head of investigations at the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions,” reads a report dated June 10.

The power utility is working with law enforcement agencies such as the NPA and the Hawks to have criminal charges instituted against them.

Mkhuleko Hlengwa, the chairperson of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), said their stance as a committee on the matter was known and it was publicly communicated late last month in a parliamentary statement.

Scopa said when it met Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom’s chief executive officer, André de Ruyter, among others, it requested the power utility to submit a report on how it was planning to claw back the money stolen from it. “The committee has also requested Eskom to submit a detailed report on the amounts that the power utility intends to recover,” it said.

Among the targets of the investigations are former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe’s R30 -million pension payout and the deal signed between the power utility and Impulse International, a firm partly owned by former executive Matshela Koko’s stepdaughter, according to documents seen by Independent Media.

Anoj Singh, Eskom’s ex-chief financial officer, and Koko are among the former executives being investigated for their involvement in a multimillion-rand coal deal with the one-time Gupta-owned Tegeta Exploration and Resources.