Former Eskom CEO Matshela Koko has fallen on hard times.
Sunday World can exclusively reveal that Standard Bank applied for a court order at the Johannesburg High Court last week to force Koko to return his R1.6-million vehicle after he failed to keep up with his monthly instalment.
In the court papers which we have seen, Standard Bank says it has granted Koko over R1.6-million loan on January 30 2017 to purchase a 2017 Lexus LX 570 V8.
The banking group further says the total costs of the loan agreement including interest, costs and charges will be over R2.4-million, which Koko was expected to repay in R28 000 monthly instalments for 72 months.
Koko would have been the legal owner of the road monster after paying a final instalment of just under half a million on February 1 2023.
The bank says the former Eskom boss breached their agreement when he defaulted on his payment and was, at June 13 2022, over R220 000 in arrears.
Lawyers representing the bank wrote a letter to Koko on May 17 and pleaded him to pay the arrears and keep his account up to date. But their plea fell on deaf ears, as Koko has failed to remit payment.
“The defendant has failed to make payment of the full monthly instalment amounts due under the agreement and was consequently in breach of the agreement,” read the papers.
The bank further says as a result of his tardiness, it has cancelled the agreement and wants him to return the saloon, as he is now in unlawful possession of the vehicle.
“And in terms of the agreement, the plaintiff is entitled to the return of the goods upon cancellation of the agreement. Wherefore the plaintiff prays for the judgment against the defendant as follows;
An order directing the defendant to restore to the plaintiff possession of the goods being a 2017 Lexus LX 570 V8. Retention of all monies paid to the plaintiff by the defendant,” read the papers.
The bank has also asked the court to grant it leave to apply for damages against Koko if found that the vehicle has lost its market value after returning it.
When pressed for comment, Koko said: “write the story the way it is.”
Koko hogged media headlines a few months ago when the Zondo Commission of Inquiry Into Allegations of State Capture found that he was an important tool of the infamous Gupta family’s strategy to capture the power utility.
The commission recommended that he be investigated and possibly prosecuted for a galaxy of Gupta-linked deals at Eskom. He replied by calling the findings nuisance and threatened to take them on judicial review.
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