By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Prosecuting Agency (NPA) Investigating Directorate (ID) this morning, confimed the arrest of another suspect – Lese’tsa Johannes Mutchinya – in the corruption case surrounding the construction of the Eskom’s Kusile power station in Mpumalanga.
Mutchinya appeared before the Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday, and was granted bail of R100 000.
Spokesperson for the NPA’s Investigating Directorate, Sindisiwe Seboka, said stringent bail conditions were imposed.
Mutchinya allegedly laundered R3.1 million through his companies.
Seboka said: “The companies used to launder money are still to be added in the next court appearance.”
He is expected to reappear in court on 4 September 2023.
Eskom’s former boss Matshela Koko and his family face allegations of benefiting through money laundering via the multibillion-rand contract.
He’s accused of abusing his position in a closed tender process to build the Kusile power station.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) previously said its investigations revealed that ABB subcontracted Impulse International, a company owned by Koko’s stepdaughter, Koketso Choma, and other companies.
“Evidence obtained by the SIU revealed that Koko played a vital role in the awarding of contracts to Impulse International, ABB and other sub-contractors.
“When contracts were awarded to Impulse, his stepdaughter became a director at Impulse and she later resigned [from] her directorship in Impulse and opened Mokoni Trust.
“Monies were then paid into the Trust by Impulse. The monies were then channeled to businesses and various channels linked to the Koko family,” said SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.
The case reached international jurisdictions, with the extradition trial of Ex-Tubular holdings advisor Michael Lomas in London.
His arrest and subsequent legal proceedings was facilitated through international conventions.
Meanwhile Eskom estimates that there has been a fourfold increase in the maximum output of rooftop solar panels since March last year.
Each week, Eskom releases a system status report, that provides data on the performance of the Eskom fleet, including estimations of the output of renewable energy sources in South Africa.
Last week, Eskom released a report with a new table that was not present in previous system reports. It claimed to show an estimate of the maximum output of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) from March 2022 until June 2023.
Eskom confirmed that the estimated solar output in the table excludes the output from solar projects procured in the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), or the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP).
These programmes are intended to bring additional megawatts onto the grid by procuring private sector investment in energy projects.