Eskom has hit back at claims from the National Treasury this afternoon that it’s refusing to hand over documents relating to a coal contract with the Gupta owned company Tegeta.
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Eskom said it had received a report from the Treasury in April and that it planned to reply to the by the end of September after a board meeting.
Eskom said in a statement over the weekend the Treasury had not issued any conclusive findings against it on any of the utility’s coal contracts‚ and that it was cooperating with the Treasury on its investigations of the contracts.
– Granting an extension that Eskom requested to provide the comments. “The National Treasury would like to categorically state that, its efforts have met resistance”.
Eskom called the allegations contained in the Sunday Times report “wholly incorrect, mischievous and misleading”.
Meanwhile, Oakbay Investments and Tegeta have noted press coverage in recent days surrounding the company’s contracts with Eskom and coal supply from the Brakfontein mine. “We also believe that our input would enhance its accuracy ahead of the report being made public”.
Read the letter Finance minister Pravin Gordhan wrote to Dr Baldwin Ngubane, Chairman of Eskom’s board in April of this year, raising concerns about media reports stating Eskom’s coal contracts not being concluded in accordance with the procurement procedure.
The Treasury said Eskom had blocked its probe since April.
The article was based on a leaked report after Tegeta last week threatened to interdict Treasury from making the report available to Democratic Alliance shadow minister of finance David Maynier, following his request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act. The utility said on June 12 the contracts were “extensively” examined.
“Eskom disputes that it has received out of specification coal worth more than R134m from Tegeta, and we have provided the documentation to that effect to the National Treasury”.
Eskom has compiled a response to National Treasury’s report dated 12 April 2016 and the responses are due to be tabled for consideration by the Eskom Board as per National Treasury’s instruction during September 2016.
It is also true that the National Treasury has requested all contracts related to Tegeta (as noted above) and that these contracts were subject to an investigation by National Treasury. The Gupta family is being investigated by the anti-corruption watchdog on suspicion of holding undue political sway over President Jacob Zuma and influencing government appointments.
The treasury statement warned that the Constitution stipulated that “for any goods or services contracted, public entities are required to use a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective.” the implication that this is not the case in the Eskom contract with Tegeta is clear.
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Subsequently, some banks terminated business relationships with Oakbay, which resulted in nonexecutive chairperson, Atul Gupta, and Oakbay CEO, Varun Gupta, resigning as directors on April 8. The utility has also indicated that it will continue to overhaul its coal supply arrangements and that it will not hesitate to cancel other cost-plus contracts, with the Hendrina and Kriel contracts in its cross hairs.
