Tribunal dismisses collusion appeal

The Competition Tribunal has refused an application to dismiss a complaint against companies accused of collusion involving an Eskom tender worth R240m, for the supply of goods at 15 Eskom power stations.

The Competition Tribunal has refused an application to dismiss a complaint against companies accused of collusion involving an Eskom tender worth R240m, for the supply of goods at 15 Eskom power stations.

This was after the Competition Commission had launched an investigation following a complaint lodged by the power utility in March 2016, while Brian Molefe was still its head.

A year later Eskom, then led by interim CEO Matshela Koko, decided to withdraw the complaint, but the commission went ahead with its probe.

Eskom is one of the stateowned entities embroiled in allegations of corruption and the state-capture project.

It has also found itself in financial difficulty, with its annual results in July revealing a loss for the year of R2.3bn at group level.

Auditors flagged both the going-concern status and irregular expenditure of R19.6bn, resulting in a qualified audit.

The Competition Commission found that a company, Waco Africa (Pty) Ltd, through its division SGB Cape, had concluded bilateral agreements with three other companies to form three joint ventures — Tedoc SGV JV, Superfecta SGB JV and Mtsweni SGB JV.

Suspicions were raised after SGB Cape submitted multiple tenders, one on its own and three joint ventures with Tedoc Industries, Mtsweni Corrosion Control and Superfecta Trading.

The same person signed all four tender submissions, with safety, financial, technical and quality documents being identical. On investigation, evidence of collusive tendering was found.

The Competition Tribunal said it had held a hearing on June 20 2018 at which the companies raised objections to the complaint by the commission. But the tribunal said it had dismissed the application to throw out the complaint.