BL Premium reports that Eskom is attempting to recoup tens of billions of rand that it believes was paid irregularly to contractors, including coal supply agreements and construction contracts.
The extent of the embattled state-owned utility’s troubles was contained in a written reply by President Cyril Ramaphosa to a parliamentary question. Ramaphosa said Eskom had cancelled coal supply agreements and construction contracts valued at R11bn and was involved in litigation to have a further R3.7bn worth of coal supply deals declared invalid. The utility was seeking to prevent further losses of about R10bn by setting aside other coal supply agreements and construction contracts, he indicated. Ramaphosa said Eskom was defending total claims of about R7.2bn by contractors and pursuing R4.8bn worth of claims against suppliers and the utility’s former directors. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has referred 5,635 matters to Eskom for disciplinary proceedings against employees for their alleged failure to submit financial declarations or declare or get approval for doing work outside the company. In addition, there are 125 pending criminal cases or referrals to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) by law enforcement and a further 65 referrals to the Asset Forfeiture Unit relating to the utility. At a media briefing this week, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa advised that 2,147 criminal cases relating to Eskom had been opened since 1 April last year, 1,586 of which were under investigation.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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