Hawks nab suspects in Kusile corruption

The former Eskom senior executives Abram Masango and France Hlakudi have been granted bail of R300 000 after being nabbed by the hawks, on Thursday morning.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has finally made a breakthrough in the multi-million rand corruption at Eskom, arresting Masango and Hlakudi for R745 million misused in the construction of Kusile power station.

Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said former Eskom senior managers were arrested over alleged fraud and corruption.

Masango was previously group capital CEO while Hlakudi was the contracts manager for Kusile. They appeared in court alongside Tubular Construction CEO Tony Trindade and Mike Lomas, the company’s former chairperson.

Mulaudzi said suspects were arrested in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng yesterday morning.

“Investigations began when suspicions were raised into the construction of two large projects at Medupi and Kusile power stations. This revealed that there was apparent gross manipulation of contractual agreements between contractors, Eskom employees and third parties at Kusile power station,” said Mulaudzi.

In a statement, Eskom board said “it would continue to work with law enforcement agencies, including the SIU and the Hawks, to root out corruption and malfeasance and the arrests of two former Eskom senior managers, two business directors and seven companies are a culmination of investigations that were under way for some time.”
“Whilst we observe the legal principle of presumption of innocence, Eskom will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that perpetrators of corruption and malfeasance are brought to book,” said the power utility.
The matter was postponed to May 25 at the specialised commercial crime court, sitting in Palm Ridge.

By Kabelo Khumalo 

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