Brown under fire for failing to act on evidence about Eskom
PUBLIC Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown is under fire for failing to act on damning evidence that implicates top Eskom managers in an allegedly irregular payments scandal.
Business Day reported yesterday that Brown had been handed prima facie evidence that Eskom had used to suspend top officials for authorising irregular payments of R1.6-billion last year.
The evidence included documents about payments to Gupta-linked Trillian without invoices or contracts‚ unauthorised expenditure and breaches of the Public Finance Management Act.
Eskom also allegedly failed to ask the Treasury for permission to deviate from normal procurement procedures before signing a contract with McKinsey.
It was reported this week that consultancy firm McKinsey‚ which has been dragged into the Gupta state capture saga‚ had distanced itself from its South African director‚ Vikas Sagar‚ and Trillian.
Eskom said in June that New York City law firm Oliver Wyman had found payments of R1.6-billion to Trillian and McKinsey to be above board.
Eskom has admitted to lying about payments made to Trillian and McKinsey‚ admitting the payments were red-flagged.
Brown’s spokesman Colin Cruywagen said the minister had taken a particular interest in the Trillian matter as information received from Eskom‚ relayed to parliament in good faith‚ had subsequently been brought into question.
Eskom declined to respond to questions.