Middelburg – Two men arrested in connection with fraud and theft of over one million rand from Eskom have been granted bail in the Middleburg Regional Court.
Mtau Dony Mmathinyane was granted bail of R 20 000 bail. His co-accused Maphoto Manape Sylvane Mokgadi was granted bail of R10 000.
The pair were ordered to report at their nearest police station every second Sunday.
Allegations are that the accused colluded with a common purpose to defraud Eskom.
It is alleged that in 2017, Arnot Power Station issued an order to the DLC 56 project for the purchase and delivery of valves.
The company purchased and delivered the valves to Arnot Power Station.
In early 2020, Arnot Power Station issued another order for the purchase and delivery of valves to Arnot Power Station.
The valves are only manufactured by Billfinger Intervalves as per the specification of Eskom.
However, in late 2020, Tutuka Power Station issued an order to Dibuseng Business Enterprise for the purchase and delivery of valves.
Dibuseng Business Enterprise delivered valves to Tutuka power station, and payment was made to an amount of just over one million rand.
A site manager of Tutuka Power Station inspected the valves and noted that the valves did not meet the purchase order specification.
He contacted Dibuseng Business Enterprise to let them know they had supplied incorrect valves.
The sole director, Mtau Dony Mmathinyane responded that he would come back to him, but he never did.
Knowing that only Billfinger manufactures these valves, the manager contacted them to inquire why they sold incorrect valves to Dibuseng Business Enterprise.
Billfinger revealed that Dibuseng Business Enterprise only asked for a quotation and never bought any valves from them.
The anomaly prompted an investigation that uncovered the alleged fraud.
Investigations proved that the valves delivered by Dibuseng Business Enterprise to Eskom were the same ones that were previously delivered to Arnot Power Station by DLC 56 project and Grant connection in 2017 and 2020.
Arnot Power Station later confirmed that the valves were stolen from them in 2020.
As a result, Eskom referred the matter to the Hawks for further investigations.
The Hawks allege that the delivery documents submitted by Dibuseng Business Enterprise were fraudulent.
Dibuseng Business Enterprises allegedly fraudulently changed the names of the legitimate suppliers on the documents and replaced them with its company name.
During the probe, the Hawks noted that a third person assisted Dibuseng Business Enterprise in acquiring the stolen valves.
Hawks spokesperson in Mpumalanga Captain Dineo Sekgotodi explained that the fraud resulted in Eskom “buying” the same valves twice, and incurring an actual loss of R 1 039 116.85.
The trio appeared before the Middelburg Regional Court on Wednesday, (6 December 2023).
The case was postponed to 20 February 2024 for its first appearance at the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
