Anoj Singh sat in Eskom meetings while still at Transnet, Zondo hears

During his testimony at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture on Thursday, former Eskom chief financial officer (CFO) Anoj Singh revealed that he was already doing work at the power utility despite prior to his appointment in 2015.

Singh told the commission’s chair Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo he was approached by Public Enterprise Minister Lynne Brown in June 2015 regarding a secondment from Transnet to Eskom.

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He said Brown, however, did not indicate if there was an issue with the then acting Eskom CFO or explain why she was looking for a replacement outside of the power utility.

“Mr chair, it was basically to understand whether I was willing at that time to consider a potential secondment to Eskom given the issues that Eskom was currently experiencing in terms of financial hardships, load shedding and the issues relating to the new board,” he said.

Singh confirmed that his secondment was made official on 1 August 2015.

Mr Singh deals with his secondment to Eskom, he says he was approached by Minister Lynn Brown to Eskom. #stateCaptureInquiry

— State Capture Commission (@StateCaptureCom) March 18, 2021

Zondo heard that Singh was already doing work for Eskom despite not officially being seconded to the power utility.

He was present in the meetings with Regiments Capital and McKinsey when the two companies sought to do consultancy work – dubbed project Pandora – for Eskom.

The then acting Eskom CFO was not included in those meetings, Zondo heard.

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This is after former Trillian Management Consulting and Regiments employee Mosilo Mothepu implicated Singh during her testimony in January regarding the meetings, which allegedly discussed Eskom’s future finances.

Singh, however, explained that the several meetings, between Eskom and the two companies took place in hotels and various venues around Johannesburg, did not involve the negotiation of any contract.

“Meetings did not discuss the Master Services Agreement neither Eskom procurement issues. The McKinsey and Regiment meetings dealt with current state at Eskom challenges,” he reiterated.

Watch the proceedings below, courtesy of the SABC:

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