Former Eskom executive R30m tax fraud case postponed to August

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has confirmed that the tax fraud case against former Eskom executive, Mangope France Hlakudi has been postponed to 25 August for further investigation.

The NPA’s Investigating Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Twala said in a statement that Hlakudi’s defence brought additional documents for further assessment by the state following his appearance at the Pretoria Regional Court.

The former executive was informed that he only was out on warning.

“This is the first case jointly handled by the Investigating Directorate and South African Revenue Service (Sars) to bring perpetrators of tax evasion to book,” Twala said.

According to Twala, the former executive was charged with fraud and tax offences amounting to over R30-million which related to his personal tax affairs and company tax of his businesses Hlakudi Translation and Interpretation cc, Coxinel Chicken (Pty)Ltd and Bon Services Telcom cc.

“This is in relation to funds not declared nor paid to Sars accumulatively from 2015 to 2018. The charge sheet explicitly details how several contractors and or subcontractors to Eskom paid over money to Hlakudi’s companies.

“It was at the time he was Eskom’s senior manager capital contracts until his resignation on 13 November 2017,” she said.

The spokesperson said Hlakudi was also accused in a fraud and corruption case valued at R745 million linked to the Kusile power plant station, where he was released on R300,000 bail.

She further said those allegedly involved in that matter included former Eskom senior executive Abram Masango, Tubular Construction CEO Tony Trindade and company former chair Mike Lomas.

Investigating directorate’s head Advocate Hermione Cronje said the state was working hard to ensure that the lost funds were recouped.

“We are going to recoup lost state funds, through working with Sars were personal income tax was not paid. Or taking people to court on fraud charges, irrespective of the mode used, we as the institution tasked with criminally charging people for abuse of the state purse, will do so,” said Cronje.

The suspects were arrested in December 2019 in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and Gauteng respectively by the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crimes Unit team in collaboration with Investigating Directorate.

In a statement, SAPS Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said the investigation revealed that there was apparent gross manipulation of contractual agreements between contractors with the two large projects at Medupi and Kusile power stations.

“In-depth investigations pointed to the fact that the contract was manipulated in a number of ways including, amongst others, the alteration of Eskom’s procurement system by senior management, the de-scoping of a contract at Kusile without justification, and with conflict of interest by Eskom employees,” Mulaudzi said.

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