By Thys Khiba – Former power utility Eskom CEO Matshela Koko, former SA Local Government Association chief executive Thabo Mokwena, Watson Seswai and Eskom project director Frans Sithole were granted a R300 000 bail.
The NPA’s ID national spokesperson, Sindisiwe Seboka confirmed the charges stem from alleged irregular contracts valued at more than R2-billion granted for building the Kusile power station.
“The State alleged that a portion of the money was used to benefit Koko and his family, and shell companies were set up to launder money. It is also based on various other buttering systems that we allege took place where various other companies were used.
In the court papers, it is alleged that money laundering vehicles were set up by Coetzee to syphon money from Impulse International to benefit the Koko family,” Seboka.
Court proceedings were delayed due to ongoing Eskom power cuts and commenced at 2pm, with the bail decision reached at about 7pm.
This comes after Koko spend at least five hours in the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga on Thursday.
His wife Mosima Koko, stepdaughters Koketso Aren and ThatoChoma, and lawyer Johannes Coetzee were each granted R70 000 bail.
The court has instructed the accused to hand in their passports and prevented them from applying for new travel documents.
Koko told court that he is unemployed and unable to afford the high bail amount asked for by the state. The court noted hisbusiness interest outside of South Africa amounted to millions of US dollars. Due to this revelations, Koko is regarded as a flight risk.
He become the first former top executive of Eskom to be brought before court on state capture on Thursday.
This comes after Koko, his wife and his two stepdaughters andthe other accused were arrested in Gauteng and Mpumalanga by the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in a joint operation.
The eight suspects are part of the 17 accused, according to the charge sheet. They are facing 25 charges, including fraud, corruption and money laundering.
The alleged irregularities are linked to the 2009 Eskom deal with Alstom to undertake the C&I (Control and Instrumentation) contract at the power station.
Reports indicated that Alstom did not perform and power utility engineers recommended the appointment of Siemens.
“The State alleges that Group Executive Technology and Commercial Koko purportedly influenced and abused his position to have Siemens, Billfinger-Mauell and ABB invited to bid for a closed tender.
“Mauell dropped out of the tender process and ABB South Africa was eventually appointed in 2015. ABB was awarded the C&I multimillion-rand. The State alleges that it then resulted in ABB South Africa appointing a company owned by Mokwenato provide skills development and industrialisation (SDL) work to the value of R96-million, excluding VAT.”
It has been reported that the arrangement led to four variation orders allegedly granted to ABB South Africa in 2016 by Sithole, to provide extra work not covered in the initial multibillion-rand C&I contract. The NPA further state thatmoney flowed from the multibillion-rand contract and that this was the first attempt to allegedly launder money on behalf of Koko.
ID head Andrea Johnon indicated that the arrest is about accountability and the rule of law. He continued to say that they must execute the NPA’s constitutional mandate for justice.
The matter is expected to be back in court on 23 March 2023.
CENTRAL NEWS
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