Shweni sheds light on Huarong deal irregularities

Sincedile Shweni from the treasury department at Eskom took to the stand today to confirm irregularities in the Huarong loan deal as highlighted by Eskom treasurer Andre Pillay.

Shweni has worked for Eskom since 2001, where he started as a senior financial analyst before making his way up the ranks to his current position as a corporate specialist, funding execution in Eskom’s treasury department.

During evidence led by advocate Thandi Norman, Shweni confirmed the Huarong loan was treated as an unsolicited proposal.

According to Shweni, vetting is an important step when dealing with fairly new entities like Huarong but the transaction never went to Eskom’s assets and liabilities committee (ALCO) which undertakes a rigorous vetting process.

He testified that, as per procedure, if there is a bespoke proposal taken outside of guidelines, the entity must write to National Treasury to invoke a sole source arrangement for the proposal.

Shweni went on to suggest the transaction never went to ALCO because of former Transnet and Eskom chief financial officer Anoj Singh’s intervention.

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Furthermore, Shweni stated that even though it was not normal to sign a term sheet, Singh signed one for the Huarong transaction.

According to him, an “investigation” into Huarong’s entities was conducted by Eskom and investigators found that there was a lack of information surrounding the China-based company.

Shweni’s testimony continues at the state capture commission.

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