Hawks circling PetroSA bosses

The passports of several senior PetroSA executives have been flagged and their bank accounts monitored as a multimillion-rand tender scandal involving the oil giant is investigated.

The Times has established that at least six PetroSA officials are under observation by the Hawks' crimes against the state unit and Interpol.

The monitoring of the executives' offshore and domestic bank accounts and travel movements follows Friday's exposé by the Mail & Guardian newspaper and an investigation by the Central Energy Fund, PetroSA's holding company.

PetroSA chairman Benny Mokaba resigned unexpectedly yesterday.

He told EyeWitness News he believed it was "prudent" to resign while claims of misspending were being investigated.

Mokaba failed to return The Times's telephone calls and SMSes asking for comment.

PetroSA is to call an urgent press conference today on the scandal.

The claims of misspending, allegedly made by a former PetroSA board director in January, centre on controversial payments of more than R200-million in connection with the acquisition of the company Saber Oil & Gas.

The company is involved in prospecting in the Jubilee oil fields in Ghana.

Those allegedly involved, who are said to include former acting CEO of PetroSA Yekani Tenza, apparently risked a further R800-million in liabilities.

Several "negotiators" involved in the deal are also being investigated for allegedly receiving multimillion-rand kickbacks.

Hawks spokesman Captain Paul Ramaloko declined to comment in detail on the investigation.

"I can confirm that all the necessary state machinery and agencies have been activated to ensure that all 'persons of interest' can be located and brought in for questioning," he said.

"The investigation has been speeded up and developments are expected within the week."

Ramaloko, who declined to say whether a specific individual or a group was being investigated, said no one identified in the four-month investigation would be allowed to leave the country.

He said the investigation had begun after a member of the PetroSA board had walked into the Morningside police station in Johannesburg in January with "boxes of documents" containing "explosive" allegations.

It is believed the board member is Rain Zihlangu.

The documents are said to include affidavits in which he highlights apparent abuse of public funds by senior PetroSA officials, allegedly including Tenza.

Ramaloko confirmed that several international policing agencies were involved in the investigation.

These are said to include Interpol and the Ghanaian authorities.

An officer close to the investigation said it was a matter of time before arrests were made.

"There are senior people who are of extreme interest to those heading the investigation.

"They and the statements they will give will prove crucial to the investigation," he said.

Ramaloko, pressed for comment, said numerous documents along with computer hard drives, had been seized.

"Our investigation is focusing on allegations of mass corruption."

Energy Ministry spokesman Thandiwe Maimane said the department was supporting the Hawks investigation into "allegations of criminal activity by certain employees of PetroSA".

The department had been instrumental in bringing the allegations of financial mismanagement to the attention of the Hawks, he said.

"The minister directed the Central Energy Fund to investigate procurement undertaken during the period in question.

"The investigation focused on procurement practices at PetroSA. The department has received the final energy fund report, which the minister will make recommendations from," he said

Maimane referred all further questions about the PetroSA saga and Mokaba's resignation to the Central Energy Fund.

The fund's spokesman, Mandla Tyala, when asked if the report would be handed to the Hawks, said: "It is a confidential report. We are awaiting ministerial direction before handing it to anyone.

''The report, which was part of an internal investigation, is not into specific transactions. It is an investigation into the robustness of general procurement processes at PetroSA, which are for amounts of R5-million and above," Tyala said.