Koko’s Eskom coal tests shaky — Treasury
Investigators say samples could have been switched in a deal that enabled the Guptas to pocket R1bn from utility
Coal samples that enabled the Gupta family to pocket more than R1bn could have been switched during a lab test ordered by former Eskom acting CEO Matshela Koko, Treasury investigators have found. The contract was to supply Eskom’s Majuba power station from the Gupta-owned Brakfontein colliery, despite findings that its coal was substandard. An explosive draft report commissioned by the Treasury into alleged looting of Transnet and Eskom by the Guptas raises several red flags about the coal quality test, conducted at a laboratory belonging to the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) on August 29 2015. The draft report, whose findings Koko disputes, concluded the Brakfontein contract, signed five months earlier in March 2015, was irregular because the officials responsible had ignored test reports that found the coal did not meet the Majuba plant’s specifications. According to the report, Eskom’s head of primary energy Vusi Mboweni, who signed the contract, and his officials should be held a...
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