Tenderpreneur arrested
Hawks swoop after businessman’s testimony on dodgy asbestos deal
A KWAZULU- NATAL businessman was arrested by the Hawks yesterday and an arrest warrant was issued for another linked to evidence presented at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry concerning a R255 million asbestos tender in the Free State dating to 2014.
The Hawks also arrested six senior government officials yesterday and businessmen, including Edwin Sodi, in the Free State and Gauteng. Former Free State housing head Nthimotse Mokhesi was also nabbed.
They face 60 charges of corruption, fraud, and money laundering and of contravening the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act and the Public Finance Management Act.
The Hawks are now looking for a suspect from KZN who is still unaccounted for, but a warrant of arrest in his name has already been secured.
The arrests follow a joint investigation by the Free State Serious Corruption Investigation, Special Investigating Unit ( SIU) and the National Prosecuting Authority ( NPA), and came a day after Sodi testified at the inquiry that his company did not have the appropriate certificates to remove asbestos and that payments were made to various senior ANC officials.
Mokhesi had also admitted that his department had not followed due process when the tender was awarded.
The Hawks said certain public officials had received gratification from the contracted company and/ or an individual amounting to several counts of corruption.
The unit said the provincial human settlements department created an impression that it participated in a contract concluded by Gauteng counterparts. However, the services were not the same as specified in the existing contract and the price was higher, in contravention of National Treasury regulations.
As a result, the Free State department incurred unauthorised, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure of over R255m.
All suspects are expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court tomorrow.
The DA yesterday called on Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members Interests to investigate ANC MPS that received payments from Sodi.
The businessman revealed that his company had made several payments to ANC and government officials between 2013 and last year. The DA said the MPS failed to declare the payments in breach of Parliament’s Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interests.
Meanwhile, ANC secretary- general Ace Magashule was yesterday cleared by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane of accusations that he had lied under oath and misled the Free State legislature while premier. The DA had complained that Magashule had twice misled the legislature in written responses to questions from MPLS.
Mkhwebane said her probe revealed that he had not misled the legislature.
Her office had established that Magashule had not had access to the report until the following year. “Upon receipt of the report the former premier communicated his discontent with the investigation process,” she said.
Services were not the same as specified in the existing contract Hawks INVESTIGATION