DPE WELCOMES ESKOM & SIU RECOVERY OF R1.56 BLN FROM ABB SA

DPE WELCOMES ESKOM & SIU RECOVERY OF R1.56 BLN FROM ABB SA

The Department of Public Enterprises welcomes the recovery of R1.56 billion from ABB South Africa, after Eskom and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) reached an agreement with ABB to pay back in full, money derived from overpayment by Eskom. The unlawful contract by ABB, was for work at the Kusile Power station that commenced in 2015.

This agreement is a crucial milestone in the fight against corruption and State Capture. It ensures that companies and individuals found to be complicit in or have benefited from malfeasance at SOEs are held accountable.

The recovery of R1.56 billion follows the issuing of summons by Eskom and the SIU for damages of about R3.8-billion in the North Gauteng High Court to recover funds from former Eskom executives, former Board members, members of the Gupta family and their associates.

The settlement agreement is a culmination of years of work by various parties, particularly after detailed investigations by the Special Investigations Tribunal in terms of the Presidential Proclamation R11 of 2018, initiated by the DPE. The SIU is currently executing proclamations into Denel, Transnet, Eskom and SAA.

The DPE continues to monitor the implementation of consequence management arising from forensic reports at SOEs in order to ensure that those implicated in wrongdoings are brought to book.

The department is also in the process of rolling out an SOE Risk and Integrity Framework geared towards restoring good governance in SOEs. The framework will introduce stringent reforms in relation to the management of conflicts of interest and integrity assessments of SOE employees and companies doing business with the SOEs.

The Department commend ABB for their disclosure and urges other companies both local and international to also come forward and make disclosures, as the SIU through the proclamation will track down all those culpable in the state capture project.

It is also clear that while some companies are able to hide their illicit funds, the SIU partnership with international law enforcement agencies will enable the recovery of the billions more back to the fiscus.

The recovery of the funds today also confirms that there is long list of entities and individuals, some who were at executive level at SOEs that were involved in state capture and need to be pursued and monies recovered from their accounts.

We are confident that the recovery of the funds from the ABB instance is an indication that Government is gradually turning the tide against state capture and corruption in the public and private sectors. The close partnership of the DPE, SOEs and law enforcement authorities will act as a deterrent and disincentive to anyone wanting to divert taxpayers’ money from being used properly in the efforts to eradicate poverty and inequality in our country.

For media Inquiries contact Richard Mantu on 072 488 1520

Issued by: Department of Public Enterprises
11 December 2020