I scuppered Salim Essa's interests at Eskom, claims Matshela Koko

29 March 2021 - 20:28 By mawande amashabalala
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Former Eskom executive Matshela Koko. File photo
IT WASN'T ME Former Eskom executive Matshela Koko. File photo
Image: Antonio Muchave

Former Eskom executive Matshela Koko has distanced himself from doing the bidding of the Gupta family through their lieutenant, Salim Essa.

Koko appeared at the Zondo commission on Monday.

He was quizzed on why he shared confidential Eskom information with an info-portal e-mail address that allegedly belonged to Essa. Koko was also questioned on his claim that it was former Eskom company secretary Suzanne Daniels who provided him with the address, claiming it belonged to former Eskom board chair Ben Ngubane.

The commission also tested a claim made by Koko that he sent the Eskom documents to the emails address only because he understood that Ngubane owned that address. He insisted that that he sent the documents to the address for the attention of Ngubane, with whom he and Daniels discussed the transactions. If anything, said Koko, the claim that he was doing Essa’s bidding is not supported by evidence.

“All that I am saying is judge me on what I have done. The transactions I am accused of doing the bidding for Mr Essa, evidence shows, it is me who insisted on compliance and doing the right thing,” said Koko. “I am the one who stopped them. We talked about suspending the Sunday Times, I objected to it. We talked about invoices of McKinsey on two occasions, I objected to it,” he went on.

“The people who accuse me of paying Trillian do not tell you that Mr Koko is the one who objected to the R460m payment. Now it is online vending; the person who objected to the appointment of Blue Label as a master vendor is me.”

Koko accused Daniels and Ngubane of lying about him to save their own skins.

“Dr Ngubane came here to lie. Why did he lie, I do not know. He is trying to distance himself from the entanglement he finds himself in,” he said.

“Ms Daniels is worse. To distance herself from the info-portal, she says to you, 'Mr Koko was my supervisor' because she is trying to say she was not at the chairman’s office so she could not have given me the info-portal e-mail as that of Dr Ngubane.

“I cannot tell you why would Ms Daniels come and lie to you.”

TimesLIVE


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