Eskom slowly recovering looted billions, says CEO
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said the power utility had recovered more than R1bn from companies that played a role in state capture.
The power utility was also making headway in recovering more money from companies and individuals fingered in corruption, De Ruyter said.
“In exposing the malfeasance that has characterised Eskom for so long, we have been able to recover R1.1bn from McKinsey. We have recovered in excess of R770m from Deloitte consulting,” said De Ruyter at the SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) fundraising event on Friday.
He said Eskom was in the process of recovering more than R700m from Trillian and from PwC Consulting.
"We've also gone after the individuals who have sought to enrich themselves at the expense of SA, of the taxpayer and of electricity consumers, by launching in conjunction with the SIU a R3.8bn claim against the Guptas, Salim Essa, Mosebenzi Zwane and former Eskom executives including former CEOs.”
“The principle is not so much that we will recover all the —money much of the money
Im sure has been stashed safely away in strange jurisdictions around the world — but we understand that without holding people to account, you open the doors to a free-for-all,” De Ruyter said.
The power utility, he said, had parted ways with no fewer than 30 senior executives and managers.
“We are continuing to investigate and register cases to hold those to account. The sad part is that as a consequence of state capture, such an important institution as Eskom has been hollowed out to a very large extent and it s not only reflected in the poor maintenance of our power stations, which we are recovering. It s not only reflected in how we have handled billing of municipalities, but it's also in systems and processes in our very culture as an organisation.
“Rebuilding the ethos that made Eskom the top global utility in the world as recently as 2001 — that is a mountain we have to climb,” he said.
Political leadership should also be held to account, De Ruyter said.