It is business as usual for Tubular

“The future of Tubular is not under threat.”

This is the message straight from the desk of Mr Jorge Bonifacio, director of South Africa’s Tubular Group.

In a statement, he said Tubular remains fully operational and offers the same high level of commitment and focus to delivering on all contracts currently in progress as well as those currently under negotiation.

This follows the arrest of the company’s chief executive operator, Mr Tony Trindade, and former chairperson, Mr Mike Lomas.

They appeared in court alongside two former Eskom senior executives, Messrs Abram Masango and France Hlakudi in relation to a R745-million fraud charge.

The case relates to alleged wrongdoing to the mega coal-fired Kusile power station construction project.

Hawks spokesperson Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi said the arrests are linked specifically to an incident in June 2015 when an allegedly fraudulent contract was submitted by the Kusile project management team to Eskom’s procurement committee.

The project management team had sought to negotiate and conclude the contract with a particular company.

“The contract was approved for R745m to build two air-cooled condenser (ACC) units at Kusile power station. It is alleged that from February 2015 to July 2017, the appointed companies, other related entities, and individuals shared about R30-mil among themselves,” said Mulaudzi in a statement.

Bonifacio said the South African construction sector, in particular, is having to deal with the difficulties of the current downside of the economy.

“Tubular is in no more of a difficult predicament than any of its colleagues and competitors. We are all riding out the wave and are optimistic that the sector will return to more solid footing in due course.”

He made it clear that Tubular remains active in pursuing project opportunities throughout South Africa, Southern and West Africa, “The company has the expertise to compete competitively and successfully.”

Mr John Humphreys, Tubular’s acting chief executive officer said Tubular has never strayed from, nor neglected its core values and its position of integrity.

Tubular is a large group comprising of over 10 companies each with specialized expertise and with separate management forums.