By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Investigating Directorate (ID) says it is confident that the R2.2 billion corruption case involving former Eskom boss Matshela Koko will be re-enrolled, as soon as outstanding aspects of the investigation are completed.
The Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court earlier today, has struck the case against Koko and others off the roll.
The court found that there had been unreasonable delays in the R2.2 billion corruption case against Koko and his co-accused, after the defence argued that the NPA had wasted time and arrested the accused too swiftly.
The accused in the case include former SA Local Government Association (Salga) Chief Executive Thabo Mokwena, Eskom’s former interim Chief Executive, Matshela Koko, his wife, Mosima Koko, and Koko’s stepdaughters, Koketso Aren and Thato Choma, Eskom Project Director at Kusile (most senior on site) Hlupheka Sithole, Johannes Coetzee (lawyer) and Watson Seswai and Lese’tsa Johannes Mutchinya.
After the judgment, Koko headed to X (formerly Twitter) to release a statement in which he referenced Psalm 91, “God is great, Always with Moses,” while saying “the past six years has been tragic”.
He labelled the Kusile matter a “hate crime” against him and his family, raking the NPA over the coals for “having done somebody a favour” with the case.
NPA’s ID said the matter being struck off the roll does not mean that Koko has been acquitted or that the charges have been withdrawn.
ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said they will continue with their investigating the case inline with the original case strategy that it developed for such a complex matter.
Seboka said they did not anticipate delays at the time of Koko’s arrest due to the complex nature of the case, however, issues raised by the Commercial Crimes Court have been noted.
“The ID will re-apply for the matter to be re-enrolled within a reasonable period of time, as soon as the outstanding aspects of the investigation have been completed,” she said.
The high-profile case has been making headlines since 2020 and relates to billions of rands worth of contracts for the construction of the Kusile Power Station, outside Emalahleni.
The contracts were awarded in 2015 to companies allegedly linked to Koko’s friends and family.
An investigation by the Specialised Investigating Unit (SIU) in 2020 found that the companies received overpayments amounting to R2 billion.