Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown is under fire for “failing to act” on damning evidence that implicates top Eskom managers in an allegedly irregular payments scandal.
Business Day reported on Thursday that Brown had been handed prima facie evidence that Eskom had used to suspend top officials for authorising irregular payments of R1.6 billion in 2016.
The evidence included documents about payments to Gupta-linked Trillian without invoices or contracts‚ unauthorised expenditure and breaches of the Public Finance Management Act.
Eskom also allegedly failed to ask Treasury for a permission to deviate from normal procurement procedures before signing a contract with McKinsey.
TimesLIVE reported on Tuesday that international consultancy firm McKinsey‚ which has been dragged into the Gupta state capture saga‚ had distanced itself from its South African director‚ Vikas Sagar‚ and the Gupta-linked company Trillian.
Eskom said in June that New York City-based law firm Oliver Wyman had found payments totalling R1.6-billion to Trillian and McKinsey to be above board.
Eskom has subsequently admitted to lying about payments made to Trillian and McKinsey‚ admitting that the payments were red-flagged and that a legal review was recommended.
Brown’s spokesman Colin Cruywagen told Business Day that the minister had taken a “particular interest in the Trillian matter as information received from Eskom‚ relayed to parliament in good faith‚ has subsequently been brought into question.”
Eskom declined to respond to questions due to “strict confidentiality considerations of the HR processes currently underway.”
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