NPA promises more 'developments' in Gauteng health tender fraud case

Two more people will soon join four former Gauteng health department officials who appeared in court on Thursday over allegations of wrongdoing in awarding tenders 11 years ago.

The two men and their companies will later join former head of department Sybil Ngcobo and three former officials who appeared at the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court on Thursday.

the two company directors would have appeared with the quartet on Thursday but the warrants of arrest could not be executed because they were overseas, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

The NPA said that in addition to the two directors, more people were likely to be apprehended in the alleged corruption, which was first probed by the Special Investigating Unit and followed up by the Hawks.

The report released by the SIU in 2018 showed alleged financial misconduct and corruption that cost the provincial health department more than R1.2m between 2006 and 2010.

This alleged financial misconduct happened when Brian Hlongwa, the former ANC chief whip in Gauteng, was health MEC.

Ngcobo, who faces a charge of contravening provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, was released on bail of R8,000 when she made her first appearance after her arrest on the same day.

Former chief director of information and communications technology Mmakgosi Mosupi, former director of supply chain management Valdis Ramaano and former deputy director-general Obakeng Mookeletsi each appeared on charges of corruption.

They were released on bail of R25,000 each.

The criminal investigation by the Hawks, which led to the arrest, followed an investigation by the SIU which probed the procurement of the Health Information System and Electronic Health Records (HIS and e-HR) by the department during December 2007.

NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said after the appearance of the four, there were other senior officials in the health department whom people believe should have been in court on Thursday.

“This is but one part of a big investigation with regards to what happened to the health department at the time in Gauteng. Therefore the other leg is coming and I suspect there should be further developments in that regard very soon,” Ngwema said.

Ngwema did not want to indicate who else might be in the dock in relation to the matter.

“It is never advisable for the prosecution or investigators to mention who are the next suspects unless ... in a situation where we could not execute the warrants,” Ngwema said.

The charges they face relate to an open tender process for the provision of HIS and e-HR systems which was awarded to the Baoki consortium.

The estimated cost for the new HIS and e-HR systems was R630m. However, the final total value of the tender awarded to Baoki consortium was just above R1bn (R1,045,174,125.12).

Though negotiations for the HIS and e-HR rollout agreement were handled by a company known as 3P on behalf of the department, the agreement needed a signature from the Gauteng finance MEC to be an effective agreement.

Despite this requirement, health department officials did not acquire written authorisations from the Gauteng provincial Treasury.

“The award was not supposed to have gone through given the fact that the MEC of finance at the time had indicated that the contract for R1.2bn could not be awarded because there were no funds.

“However officials appeared in court today — they then went ahead and signed a service level agreement against instructions not to proceed,” Ngwema said after their appearance.

Ngwema said the officials went to add more work to the initial agreement, such as a service of network connectivity to the initial system, costing an additional R233m.

Ngwema said these amounts were not budgeted for and were not supposed to be part of the contract. Some of these amounts went from some of these companies in the Baoki Consortium to some of the accused who appeared on Thursday as a form of gratification.

The charge sheet includes an allegation that one company provided Mosupi with airline tickets to the value of £4,394.

Another company allegedly provided to Ramaano house refurbishments to the value of R952,000. That company also provided to Mookeletsi furniture to the value of R86,000.

The four will appear again on December 3.

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