Hawks nab Eskom scalps in Mpumalanga

Sifiso Jacob Masina, a former mid-level accountant at Kriel Power Station, was sentenced this week to eight years in prison, five of them suspended, for cranking out invoices to the tune of R513 630 to companies he controlled for no work done.

Masina was ordered to repay all the stolen money – R30 000 immediately, and R10 00 a month until the balance is settled.

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The Hawks in Mpumalanga, where most of Eskom’s power stations are located, have notched up a series of successful arrests and convictions involving fraud against Eskom since the start of the year.

In another case this week, Nwabisa Ngxola, a former admin clerk at Eskom, was found guilty and sentenced by the Mbombela Specialised Commercial Crime Court on charges of fraud, corruption, and money laundering. She was sentenced to 10 years for 16 counts of fraud, a further seven years for 39 counts of corruption and another seven years for 48 counts of money laundering.

“The conviction and sentence followed a lengthy investigation conducted by the Nelspruit Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation, in collaboration with Eskom Forensic Investigators,” says a Hawks statement.

Together with co-accused Cinderella Moropane, Ngxola was claimed to have submitted fraudulent invoices, this time to the tune of R2.6 million, to a company called Chimanzi Investments, whose sole director was Michael Chimanzi.

Chimanzi was found guilty and sentenced by the Nelspruit Specialised Commercial Crime Court in March for fraud, theft and money laundering. He has already served four years in prison. He was sentenced to eight years, suspended for five years, on condition that he is not found guilty and convicted for similar offences during the period of suspension.

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The court’s sentencing took into consideration the four years Chimanzi had already spent in prison since his initial arrest in 2018, and the fact he had shown remorse and pled guilty from the outset.

The case against Cinderella Moropane was postponed to 17 May 2023 as she was reportedly hospitalised due to illness.

Conspiracy to commit fraud

The National Prosecuting Authority says Moropane, Chimanzi and Ngxola conspired to submit fraudulent invoices, with Ngxola’s password and username on Eskom computer systems being used to capture payments to Mandla Lines CC, a company registered to Chimanzi.

On 31 March the Hawks swooped on four suspects on charges of fraud and corruption. The four accused are Nozipho Ntuli (35), George Edward Sekatane (43), Alfred Lebohang Sekatane (60) and Thulani Harris Mkhabela (40). They were arrested in a joint operation by the Secunda-based Hawks’ Serious Corruption and Serious Commercial Crime Investigation teams.

It is alleged that between 2016 and 2019, Nozipho Ntuli was employed at Duhva Power Station as a buyer and awarded contracts without following prescribed supply chain management processes.

According to the Hawks further investigation revealed that the dubious contracts were awarded to the companies Phoenix and Itereleng Masheleng, which belonged to Ntuli’s boyfriend George Sekatane, and Hustle Hard, belonging to Thulani Harris Mkhabela.

“It is further alleged that when the contracts were awarded, George was in prison and Lebohang Sekatane was responsible for taking information and documents from Eskom to George in prison and vice versa,” says the Hawks in a statement.

“The loss suffered by Eskom is estimated at R4 .9 million.”

Tightened internal controls

Responding to the conviction of Masina this week, Eskom says it is improving internal controls to prevent such incidents of fraud from occurring.

Among these is the implementation the Fraud Risk Prevention Plan to maximise fraud prevention and enhance good corporate governance practices.

“The implementation of the plan is monitored by the Anti-Fraud and Corruption Integration Committee (AFCIC) which also ensures integration between forensic, legal, ethics, industrial relations and supplier review functions,” says Eskom in a statement.

“Progress is reported to the Eskom executive committee and the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) on a regular basis. In addition, the AFCIC is assessing Eskom’s alignment to the goals and purpose of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) recommendations on anti-corruption, which will be used to identify further areas for improvement in the Fraud Risk Prevention Plan.”

Also in March, a mother and son team – Rabela and Godfrey Jones – alongside former Eskom senior buyer Thandeka Innocentia Nkosi, were arrested on charges of fraud, theft and money laundering after Nkosi was claimed to have misled Eskom colleagues to pay an upfront amount of R14.7 million for a pump tender at Arnot Power Station in 2015.

The payment was made to Angel Frost Investment, which is claimed to have submitted fraudulent documents to secure the tender. The arrests followed a joint investigation by Eskom’s forensic investigator and the Serious Commercial Crimes unit.

The arrests are a stern warning to fraudsters, says Major General Nicholas Gerber, head of the Hawks in Mpumalanga.

“Eskom looting will not be tolerated.”

This article originally appeared on Moneyweb and was republished with permission. Read the original article here.

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