Former Eskom boss Matshela Koko arrested
PRETORIA - Former Eskom Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Matshela Koko, his wife Mosima and his stepdaughter Koketso Choma have been arrested on corruption charges, it was reported yesterday.
A source told IOL that the NPA’s Investigative Directorate had arrested the trio, not the Hawks as had been reported.
In a statement yesterday morning, Sindisiwe Seboka, the Spokesperson for the Investigating Directorate, said eight people were expected to appear in the Mpumalanga Middleburg Magistrates Court on charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering. arrested in Gauteng and Mpumalanga this morning at the crack of dawn,” she said. According to a News24 report, the arrest of Koko, his wife and stepdaughter relates to a multi-billion Rand contract Eskom entered with Swiss engineering company Asea Brown Bovei (ABB) back in 2015. ABB reportedly subcontracted work to a local company, Impulse International, where Choma was a shareholder.
Deal
According to the report, Choma received R30 million from the deal, and some of the money cascaded to Mosima Koko.The State Capture Inquiry, led by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, recommended that Koko must be investigated and possibly prosecuted for a series of Gupta-linked deals during his tenure at struggling Eskom. In May, Koko and another former Eskom executive Brian Molefe decried the State capture inquiry report, questioning the recommendation that further investigations into their activities be carried out by law enforcement agencies.
Corrupt
The two were reacting after Zondo’s report stated that there was a ‘pervasive culture of corrupt practices, mismanagement, and malfeasance that had been inculcated within Eskom promoted by executives and board members since 2014’.
Zondo has recommended that former Eskom executives Anoj Singh, Molefe, and Koko and the power utilities’ Board from 2014 be investigated by law enforcement agencies.