Africa-Press – South-Africa. Former acting Eskom chief executive officer Matshela Koko has been arrested in connection with a multibillion-rand tender awarded to Swiss conglomerate Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) at Kusile Power Station.
Charges against Koko, his wife Mosima and stepdaughter Koketso Choma as well as Koko’s long-time friend Thabo Owen Mokoena, stem from a 2015 contract awarded to ABB to install control and instrumentation systems at the power station near Emalahleni in Mpumalanga.
While the official charge sheet is yet to be made public, News24 has learned that Koko’s arrest comes in the wake of a years-long criminal investigation into alleged corruption around the deal that first started in 2017 when Eskom reported the matter to the South African Police Service.
ABB was awarded the R2-billion contract after the work was descoped from Siemens, which was awarded the contract originally, due to the alleged non-performance of one of its subcontractors that threatened to delay the project.
The awarding of the contract was allegedly manipulated, with ABB employees accused of colluding with Koko to ensure that it appointed Impulse International as its subcontractor to undertake some of the cabling work, while knowing that Impulse was not fully equipped or qualified to finish the work.
Mokoena’s company Leago Engineering, was appointed as an ABB subcontractor prior to Impulse, also allegedly at Koko’s insistence. But the deal turned sour and for reasons that remain unclear, ABB and Leago parted ways, allegedly at Koko’s instruction after an apparent argument between himself and Mokoena.
Four other were also arrested, however News24 has not yet confirmed their identities. Investigating Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said on Thursday that all eight accused would appear in the Middelburg Regional Court.
A well-known engineering firm, Lead EPC, was appointed by Impulse to undertake most of the work ABB had paid Impulse to complete, according to interviews with individuals familiar with the contract.
In addition to Eskom reporting a case to the police in 2017, in 2019 ABB self-reported evidence of corruption to authorities in the US and to the National Prosecuting Authority and in December 2020, repaid R1.57 billion to Eskom for the contract.
News24 understands that ABB’s internal investigation found evidence of meetings between Koko and key ABB executives.
News24 previously reported that mutual legal assistance agreements with Swiss and German authorities were concluded, meaning that more evidence from ABB’s own internal investigation and evidence from German and Swiss prosecutors, who had undertaken raids of properties in both countries, could be shared with the Investigating Directorate.
Koko has steadfastly denied that he was involved in the appointment of Impulse as a subcontractor to ABB and has cooperated with forensic investigations in the past.
However, his stepdaughter Koketso Choma, was a shareholder of Impulse.
In previous forensic investigations instituted by Eskom, Koko denied knowing that Choma was a shareholder, and that when he found out he had instructed her to get rid of the shares.
Impulse was paid R845 million by Eskom and multinational company ABB in connection with various contracts between 2014 and July 2017, some of which were awarded after Choma became a shareholder and director of the company in March 2016.
R549.4 million of this came from ABB in connection with the Kusile subcontract, according to documents reviewed by News24.
The documents show that at least R30 million flowed from Impulse to a company, Ukwakhiwa Investments, which was owned by Choma. At least R14.5 million was paid from Ukwakhiwa to a company owned by Koko’s wife, Mosima, called High Echelon Trading, for the development of a sectional title property in Middelburg.
Mosima Koko also paid herself more than R4 million in what appears to be salaries.
A key party to the alleged corruption, Impulse CEO Pragasen Pather, died in June 2021. News24 understands he was due to appear in court earlier this year with two former ABB employees, Mohammed Mooidheen and Vernon Pillay, as well as their wives, Raeesa Mooidheen and Aradhna Pillay.
R28 million was paid by Impulse International to its subsidiary, Indiwize Construction. The entire R28 million was either paid on to individuals involved in the corruption or withdrawn as cash.
Between December 2016 and February 2017, Mooidheen cashed cheques from Indiwize or Pather to the value of R2.8 million. Between February and March 2017, Pillay cashed R3.8 million in cheques.
A R1.3-million Toyota Landcruiser was bought by Impulse and registered in Aradhna Pillay’s name in November 2016.
Similarly, Impulse paid R618?000 for a Volkswagen Golf 7 GTi in January 2017, which was registered in the name of Shamin Ramdew. Ramdew changed her name to Raeesa Mooidheen in 2000.
Also in November 2016, a Mercedes-Benz car worth R930?000 was also registered in Ramdew’s name and again paid for by Impulse.
In exchange, the charge sheet reads, Mooidheen and Pillay “provided Impulse with an unfair advantage over other [ABB] subcontractors as Impulse’s rates were inflated and… procurement policies were not followed on the appointment of Impulse”.
The charges range from conspiracy to corruption to money laundering, with each separate transaction treated as a separate offence.
Current Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter told Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts that ABB had so far completed about 90% of the work at Kusile.
Negotiations were ongoing with ABB to conclude a new contract for the remainder of the work, which the company has undertaken to complete on a zero-profit basis.
This is necessitated by legal requirements that mean Eskom must approach a court to set aside the contract due to the evidence of unlawful actions, and a new contract with a different manufacturer would set back the completion of Kusile by several years.
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