Former Eskom Kusile exec R30m tax fraud case postponed

Former Eskom senior manager France Hlakudi’s tax matter was postponed to 10 November by the Pretoria regional court on Tuesday.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Sindisiwe Twala said the postponement was to allow Hlakudi’s legal team time to study the docket.

Twala said Hlakudi is facing charges of fraud and contravention of the tax administration act in relation to his personal tax affairs and that of his companies, Hlakudi Translation and Interpretation cc, Coxinel Chicken (PTY) Ltd and Bon Services Telcom cc.

Twala said the charges relate to money Hlakudi accrued from 2015 to 2018.

“Hlakudi is also accused number one in the R745 million Eskom Kusile corruption case.

“In the latter case, Hlakudi is accused of receiving millions from subcontractors from Eskom during the time when he was Eskom Kusile power station senior manager capital contracts before his resignation on 13 November 2017.

“In the charge sheet, it detailed how companies/persons and or subcontractors to Eskom paid monies over to Hlakudi Translation and Interpretations CC. The entities being MH Lomas, Babinatlou Business Services CC, Patrice Robert Tiberi, Abeyla Trading (Pty)Ltd, Tubelar Construction Projects, Aims Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Titan E Services (Pty) Ltd.

“Sars and the Investigating Directorate are claiming R30,233,545.46 was due to Sars and not paid by his companies,” Twala said.

The head of the investigating directorate, advocate Hermoine Cronje said: “This is one of the build-up cases to the many legs of corruption at Eskom that we plan to bring before the courts during our tenure.”

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)

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