New Eskom CEO ‘deleted electronic information linking Koko to Guptas’

New acting Eskom CEO Sean Maritz reportedly hired his friend and fellow church member without declaring their friendship. The friend reportedly gets a salary of about R100 000 a month.

Maritz was reportedly given a written warning in 2010, when he was still the utility’s IT manager, for employing friend Andre Coetzee in his department on a six-month contract, Sunday Times has reported.

Former Eskom chief information Virgil Humphrey Rabie reportedly told the publication he was suspended before he could take action against the newly appointed CEO.

He said he was about to charge Maritz with six counts for gross Eskom policy transgressions before he was suspended on “bogus charges”.

Stephen Lennon, managing director for corporate services, who chaired Maritz’s disciplinary inquiry reportedly told the CEO that by failing to declare his relationship with the employee, he had contravened Eskom’s policy.

“After considering all the facts during the disciplinary inquiry, I have decided to give you a sanction of six months’ written warning. You are further warned that any repeat of this misconduct may result in stronger disciplinary action being taken against you,” he said.

Two Eskom executives told the Sunday Times that Maritz allegedly deleted evidence implicating Gupta companies in controversial deals with Eskom.

“Sean deleted electronic information from the server linking Koko to the Guptas, this included Trillian and Tegeta transactions,” they were quoted as saying.

In his defense, Maritz reportedly told the publication that he had not had any contact with Koko since his suspension.

“I reject with contempt the allegations made,” he was quoted as saying.

Matshela Koko, suspended acting Eskom CEO and group executive of coal procurement, has been in the news for lying on camera when he said during a Carte Blanche interview that he had never signed a deal with a Gupta-linked company.

The Sunday Times reports Koko’s apparent dishonesty prompted Eskom board spokesperson Khulani Qoma to write a letter to the board, in which he said Koko must be fired because “lying on camera is a cardinal sin for an executive, and recent memory doesn’t rival this particular incident”.

Koko’s apparent dishonesty prompted Eskom board spokesperson Khulani Qoma to write a scathing letter to the board, in which he said Koko must be fired because “lying on camera is a cardinal sin for an executive, and recent memory doesn’t rival this particular incident”.

Qoma confirmed that he wrote the letter in which he further stated: “According to the emails, he started bidding for the Gupta family while he was employed at Transnet and has allegedly migrated with this mandate to Eskom. I haven’t personally seen any credible effort by him [Koko], to refute these grave allegations.”

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