Ex-Eskom bosses fail in request for further disclosure on R745m Kusile matter

The Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has dismissed two applications brought by former Eskom group executive for group capital division Abram Masango and CEO of Tubular Construction Antonio Trindade in connection with a R745 million deal at Kusile Power Station.

They duo appeared in the dock on Wednesday.

The dismissal is in relation to two interlocutory applications brought in the Eskom Kusile matter argued in May and June 2023.

Judgement

National Prosecuting Authority Investigative Directorate (NPA ID) spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said the first application was brought by Trindade for access to certain sections of the case docket.

“The second was brought by Masango under section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Act to compel the state to provide further and better particulars.”

Seboka said magistrate Philip Venter, when handing judgment, remarked the charge sheet and the preamble read like a well-written fact book.

“The request for further and better particulars amounts to an abuse of process and subsequently dismissed the application. Trindade’s application was subsequently dismissed in relation to the B section.

“The state, which had in argument agreed to provide the C section of the case docket, was ordered to continue granting access to the C section until the accused plead,” said Seboka.

She said the matter has also been postponed to 8 September as a provisional date.

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Other accused

The other accused in the matter are former Eskom contracts manager France Hlakudi, businessman Maphoko Kgomoeswana and seven other companies.

Hlakudi and Masango allegedly received R30 million each in bribes from Trindade.

They face charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering stemming from their various roles in allegedly defrauding Eskom’s Kusile Power Station in Mpumalanga between 2014 and 2017.

Kgomoeswana and his company, Babinatlou Business Services, are accused of facilitating the bribes on behalf of the Kusile contractors to the former Eskom bosses.

The case, which started in 2019, has faced several delays in getting underway due to several postponements. Some of the delays were due to Hlakudi changing his legal representatives.

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