An Eskom employee and a lorry driver appeared in the Kriel Magistrate’s Court on charges of theft and fraud.
According to Brig. Athlenda Mathe, police spokesperson, the two apparently worked together to defraud Eskom. The 36-year-old Siphiwe Sindane, an Eskom employee, and the 41-year-old Loveless Mabaso, a truck driver from a company that is subcontracted to supply heavy fuel oil to Eskom, were arrested on Wednesday. This after heavy fuel oil that had to be unloaded at the Matla power station was never delivered.
“It is alleged that the two sold and delivered the heavy fuel oil to someone known to them and later submitted a fraudulent invoice to Eskom claiming that they had delivered the fuel. Eskom suffered a loss of R1 million.
An investigation by the energy security priority committee led to the two’s arrest.
According to Mathe, this committee is currently investigating 1,586 Eskom-related cases. So far, 126 arrests have been made. Items and equipment worth R1 billion were seized, including 42 firearms, 83 loads of coal, trucks and mining machinery.
