By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Middleburg Magistrates Court in Mpumalanga on Thursday afternoon granted former Eskom chief executive Matshela Koko bail of R300,000.
Koko was arrested by NPA on Thursday morning – alongside his wife, Mosima and stepdaughter, Koketso Choma – in connection to a multibillion-rand contract Eskom entered into with Swiss engineering company Asea Brown Boveri (ABB).
They face charges of fraud, corruption, and money laundering.
Koko was a senior executive at Eskom at the time.
ABB, in 2015, was awarded a R2.2-billion control and instrumentation contract for Eskom’s Kusile Power Station located in Mpumalanga.
In turn, ABB irregularly awarded a R549.6 million sub-contract to Impulse International, a company which was partially owned by Choma.
The judicial commission of inquiry into state capture, led by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, found that Koko was ” an integral component of the Gupta family’s strategy to capture Eskom.”
Zondo recommended that Koko should be criminally investigated for a raft of state capture-related crimes, including the ABB deal and the Guptas’ controversial Tegeta deal.
ABB has since put aside $325 million (~R6 billion) as a provision to cover costs related to corruption probes at Kusile power station.
Magistrate Deon Van Rooyen granted Koko bail of R300 000, after former Eskom group executive argued he was not a flight risk.
He was also barred from entering any port of entry, and ordered to hand over his passport.
Mosima, Koketso Aren, Johannes Coetzee and Choma were granted bail of R70 000.
They were also ordered to hand over their passports to ensure their attendance at trial and are expected to return to court in March next year.