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"title": "Former Eskom executive France Hlakudi a no-show in court, warrant of arrest issued",
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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ex-Eskom executive France Hlakudi was scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday to face multimillion-rand tax fraud charges. He failed to pitch up. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigative Directorate, Sindisiwe Seboka, confirmed that Hlakudi’s R300,000 bail had been provisionally forfeited to the state.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hlakudi is one of several people accused of fraud, corruption and money laundering in connection with an allegedly fraudulent R745-million contract involving the Kusile Power Station. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The allegations of criminality follow an investigation by </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick’s Scorpio </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reporter, Pieter-Louis Myburgh.</span>\r\n\r\nhttps://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-12-19-ex-eskom-bosses-tubular-construction-executives-charged-over-r30m-kusile-kickbacks-saga/\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than R30-million was reportedly paid for Tubular Construction Projects (TCP) to win a contract at Kusile worth R1.2-billion.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Myburgh’s report led to the arrest of Hlakudi and another former Eskom boss, Abram Masango. They were slapped with </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-12-19-ex-eskom-bosses-tubular-construction-executives-charged-over-r30m-kusile-kickbacks-saga/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">charges relating to corruption in the Kusile contract.</span></a>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1219853\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WhatsApp-Image-2022-03-30-at-3.38.14-PM.jpeg\" alt=\"hlakudi kusile eskom co-accused\" width=\"720\" height=\"367\" /> Co-accused from left: CEO of Tubular Construction Antonio Trindade, former Eskom Group Executive for Group Capital Division Abram Masango and businessman Maphoko Kgomoeswana. (Photo: Supplied)</p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other accused in the matter are Limpopo businessman Maphoko Kgomoeswana and Antonio Trindade, CEO of Eskom service provider Tubular Construction, as well as seven other companies.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Hlakudi is expected to appear within 14 days (by 13 April 2020) for final forfeiture of his bail money,” Seboka said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The indictment alleges that Masango and Hlakudi pushed for TCP to be awarded a R745-million contract — signed in April 2016 — to build air-cooled condensers at Kusile.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The State will contend, once the trial gets under way, that the original price was deliberately understated and ballooned to R1.2-billion after Eskom approved a modification to the project. Masango and Hlakudi both </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-10-27-former-eskom-bosses-in-the-dock-for-kusile-r30m-kickback-deal/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">had oversight of contracts in the Kusile build</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span>\r\n\r\nhttps://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-03-30-the-great-sassa-swindle-postbank-theft-of-r89-4m-in-social-grants-kept-under-wraps/\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TCP’s Tony Trindade, a company director at the time, and Michael Lomas, TCP executive adviser and then chairman, are alleged to have paid Masango and Hlakudi through various channels, including Kgomoeswana’s Babinatlou Business Services.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lomas was reportedly arrested by British police in April last year at the request of South African authorities. He still has to face an extradition hearing.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Special Investigating Unit probing the matter had, according to a Parliamentary Monitoring Group committee meeting, also informed Scopa that it had saved R2.68-billion by cancelling dodgy coal contracts worth more than R6.69-billion.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On 17 February 2022, the SIU told MPs that its investigations at Eskom had resulted in 5,567 referrals for disciplinary action and identified 5,452 officials who had failed to complete their financial interest declarations.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The case against </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hlakudi</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and his co-accused will </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">return</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">court on 5 May 2022</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. </span><b>DM</b>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[hearken id=\"daily-maverick/9303\"]</span></i>",
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"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ex-Eskom executive France Hlakudi was scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday to face multimillion-rand tax fraud charges. He failed to pitch up. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigative Directorate, Sindisiwe Seboka, confirmed that Hlakudi’s R300,000 bail had been provisionally forfeited to the state.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hlakudi is one of several people accused of fraud, corruption and money laundering in connection with an allegedly fraudulent R745-million contract involving the Kusile Power Station. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The allegations of criminality follow an investigation by </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick’s Scorpio </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reporter, Pieter-Louis Myburgh.</span>\r\n\r\nhttps://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-12-19-ex-eskom-bosses-tubular-construction-executives-charged-over-r30m-kusile-kickbacks-saga/\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than R30-million was reportedly paid for Tubular Construction Projects (TCP) to win a contract at Kusile worth R1.2-billion.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Myburgh’s report led to the arrest of Hlakudi and another former Eskom boss, Abram Masango. They were slapped with </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-12-19-ex-eskom-bosses-tubular-construction-executives-charged-over-r30m-kusile-kickbacks-saga/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">charges relating to corruption in the Kusile contract.</span></a>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1219853\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1219853\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WhatsApp-Image-2022-03-30-at-3.38.14-PM.jpeg\" alt=\"hlakudi kusile eskom co-accused\" width=\"720\" height=\"367\" /> Co-accused from left: CEO of Tubular Construction Antonio Trindade, former Eskom Group Executive for Group Capital Division Abram Masango and businessman Maphoko Kgomoeswana. (Photo: Supplied)[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other accused in the matter are Limpopo businessman Maphoko Kgomoeswana and Antonio Trindade, CEO of Eskom service provider Tubular Construction, as well as seven other companies.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Hlakudi is expected to appear within 14 days (by 13 April 2020) for final forfeiture of his bail money,” Seboka said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The indictment alleges that Masango and Hlakudi pushed for TCP to be awarded a R745-million contract — signed in April 2016 — to build air-cooled condensers at Kusile.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The State will contend, once the trial gets under way, that the original price was deliberately understated and ballooned to R1.2-billion after Eskom approved a modification to the project. Masango and Hlakudi both </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-10-27-former-eskom-bosses-in-the-dock-for-kusile-r30m-kickback-deal/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">had oversight of contracts in the Kusile build</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span>\r\n\r\nhttps://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-03-30-the-great-sassa-swindle-postbank-theft-of-r89-4m-in-social-grants-kept-under-wraps/\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TCP’s Tony Trindade, a company director at the time, and Michael Lomas, TCP executive adviser and then chairman, are alleged to have paid Masango and Hlakudi through various channels, including Kgomoeswana’s Babinatlou Business Services.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lomas was reportedly arrested by British police in April last year at the request of South African authorities. He still has to face an extradition hearing.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Special Investigating Unit probing the matter had, according to a Parliamentary Monitoring Group committee meeting, also informed Scopa that it had saved R2.68-billion by cancelling dodgy coal contracts worth more than R6.69-billion.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On 17 February 2022, the SIU told MPs that its investigations at Eskom had resulted in 5,567 referrals for disciplinary action and identified 5,452 officials who had failed to complete their financial interest declarations.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The case against </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hlakudi</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and his co-accused will </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">return</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">court on 5 May 2022</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. </span><b>DM</b>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[hearken id=\"daily-maverick/9303\"]</span></i>",
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Co-accused from left: CEO of Tubular Construction Antonio Trindade, former Eskom Group Executive for Group Capital Division Abram Masango and businessman Maphoko Kgomoeswana. (Photo: Supplied)