Singh blames ‘nonexistent’ policy
Eskom CFO’s claim about why he paid Gupta pals disputed
● Former Eskom CFO Anoj Singh may have been caught in a lie for claiming under oath that Eskom had a policy to pay subcontractors directly — even though they would not be the entity that had contracted with the power utility.
Eskom, through spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha, has denied the existence of such a policy.
Singh made the claim at the commission of inquiry into state capture on Thursday, when he was cornered on why he approved a R30m payment to Gupta-linked company Trillian.
After Singh’s testimony, former minister Lynne Brown and minerals & energy minister Gwede Mantashe took the stand.
Brown denied any relationship with alleged Gupta lieutenant Salim Essa. Mantashe, on other hand, confirmed that former Bosasa director Papa Leshabane paid for security at the minister’s Boksburg and Eastern Cape homes.
But it was Singh who dug himself the deepest hole this week. He was grilled on why he, as CFO, approved the R30m payment to a Gupta-linked subcontractor when Eskom had a contract with McKinsey.
After being pressed several times, Singh said he had done so because this was within policy and payment procedures at Eskom.
Mantshantsha on Friday contradicted Singh.
“Eskom is not aware of such a policy. Eskom can only pay a contracted party directly, not another party,” said Mantshantsha, who declined to comment further.
An Eskom insider who asked not to be named said Eskom has never had a policy to pay subcontractors directly.
“Singh was under pressure at the Zondo commission and as such failed dismally to articulate Eskom policy,” said the insider.
“In his failure, he ended up tying himself in a rope. He is in big trouble because Eskom has no such policy of paying subcontractors directly and he will be cornered on it when he goes back to the commission.”
The contract in question was awarded to McKinsey to assist the power utility to develop
a corporate plan. According to Singh, McKinsey subcontracted Regiments Capital, which ceded its contracts to Trillian — a company controlled by Eric Wood and Essa.
Trillian was subcontracted to deal with the funding plan part of the corporate plan, in exchange for a 30% cut of the R100m contract with McKinsey.
Regiments, through Essa, had attempted to pitch the same idea to former Eskom financial director Tsholofelo Molefe before Singh arrived at Eskom.
Molefe sent the firm packing and for that she would be suspended in March 2015, and later dismissed. But when Singh joined Eskom later that year, McKinsey was suddenly back in the picture as the main contractor, with its subcontractor none other than Regiments/Trillian.
With Singh in charge in 2015, McKinsey scooped the contract, subcontracting the Gupta-linked company on a 70/30 split.
Things would take a turn for the worse in governance terms when Trillian sent the invoice directly to Singh, despite McKinsey being the main contractor.
Singh approved the invoice and it went through all the channels in Eskom and was accordingly paid to Trillian.
Why was this the case when Eskom’s contract was with McKinsey, commission chair and deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo asked Singh.
“Regiments was a function of McKinsey, it was not a function of me,” said Singh.
Zondo turned up the heat: “But you paid them directly. You did not pay McKinsey [with whom you had a contract] and left them and Trillian to sort out how they shared the payment. You paid Trillian directly as if Eskom had a contract with them.”
Said Singh: “I did so based on the policies and procedures that existed at the time.”
The commission chair said Singh found it “convenient” to deal with Trillian when it came to the payment, when he had not done so on other matters related to the contract.
“There was a policy and payment procedure in place that deals with subcontractors directly, so I did not intervene in that process and I did not favour them [Trillian] in that process,” Singh continued.
“Do you recall when Eskom had this policy of paying subcontractors directly?” Zondo asked him.
Singh responded: “Mr Chair, I did not create the policy so I assume it predated me.”
Evidence leader advocate Pule Seleka SC told Singh that he would “check” with Eskom and question him in his next appearance before the commission.
“I hear my investigator saying he was told by Eskom officials that there wasn’t a policy of the sort that Mr Singh has referred to,” said Seleka.
On Friday, Mantashe told the commission he did not know the cost of the installation of security cameras at his home in Boksburg, Gauteng, and his two properties in the Eastern Cape.
Mantashe said he was in the process of installing cameras to his Boksburg home when Leshabane, who he described as a family friend, arrived and offered to put in cameras of better quality than the ones his security people had purchased.
“He is available to give evidence. Papa Leshabane is said to have offered to give better cameras because the cameras we bought at Game were of inferior quality. That is how that project started,” Mantashe said.
The minister said he accepted the offer of better cameras. Leshabane said that he would bear the cost of the cameras and installation, Mantashe said.
The minister said he did not know whether Leshabane paid the costs from his own pocket or whether he did so using Bosasa funds. —
Mr Chair, I did not create the policy so I assume it predated me
Anoj Singh, above
Former Eskom CFO