Eskom wants Singh at its key meetings

Scandal-hit Eskom wants disgraced chief financial officer and Gupta ally Anoj Singh to be invited to board meetings, despite his being on special leave.

The Sunday Times has seen a letter from the board’s interim chairman, Zethembe Khoza, to Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown seeking her approval of this.

“Mr Anoj Singh is currently an executive director on the board of Eskom and in our view is entitled to receive all invitations for and attend board meetings during the period he is on special leave, unless the Minister directs otherwise,” reads the letter, dated September 2.

This week Khoza said he had merely asked Brown to provide clarity on whether the action against Singh affected his status as an executive director.

“Remember he has to be appointed to the board separately, even though he came through virtue of being chief financial officer,” Khoza said.

“We wanted the minister to clarify it. There is nowhere it says if you’re a board member and you’re suspended on one role you automatically get suspended on another one.

“It’s quite bizarre, but at the end when people start suing each other, if you haven’t asked for proper clarity from the right people it becomes a problem,” he said.

Brown has demanded a report from the power utility on Singh’s involvement in the payment of R500-million to Trillian, a Gupta-linked company, without a contract.

Brown’s spokesman, Colin Cruywagen, confirmed she had received a letter from Khoza, but said its contents were confidential.

Singh said yesterday he felt he had the right to attend board meetings to address queries and ensure there was no misunderstanding of his role in the McKinsey and Trillian transaction.