Africa-Press – South-Africa. Eskom says further arrests are “imminent” in a case that saw one of its employees arrested in connection with alleged tender irregularities at Kriel Power Station earlier this month.
The arrest on 20 July followed a probe by Eskom’s forensic department, after it received a tip-off from a member of the public in October. This prompted the investigation of a tender for the provision of coal yard lighting for 12 months at Kriel.
The accused, who is a project coordinator at Kriel, appeared in the Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Monday and has been released on bail.
“A search was conducted at the accused’s house in eMalahleni where an amount of R16 600 was seized by the police… The arrest of all the role players in this matter is imminent,” Eskom said.
According to a statement from the power utility on Friday evening, the investigation found that after the closing date, four service providers responded to the request for proposals.
After the necessary evaluations, however, the “key stakeholders involved” were approached and asked to submit another bid with an inflated price, with the understanding that the difference would be split between those in on the scheme.
“The supplier then submitted another bid with a new tender value almost double the initial amount and was appointed,” Eskom said. “The supplier started paying those involved an amount of R25 000 each on separate occasions, with the first payment made on 21 October 2022.”
R50 000 has been handed in as evidence to the SAPS, while a third payment was expected late in July and the police were alerted, Eskom said.
Eskom said that “while most of our employees are hardworking”, it was “cognisant of the few who are corrupt amongst us”.
“The arrest of the project coordinator and others in the past is therefore a step in the right direction in ridding the organisation of corruption,” it added.
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