Asset Forfeiture Unit wins R584m restraint order in Kusile graft case

The Asset Forfeiture Unit has been awarded a provisional restraint order valued at R583.8m against former employees of ABB SA, their wives and Eskom subcontractors.

This includes vehicles and several properties in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

The order was granted by the high court in Johannesburg two weeks ago in terms of section 26 of the Prevention of Organised Crimes Act and has already been served and enforced against six accused and 14 interested parties.

Former ABB SA employees Mohammed Essop Mooidheen and Vernon Pillay, and their wives Raeesa Mooidheen and Aradhna Pillay, subcontractors Impulse International, which is in liquidation, as well as Indiwize Construction are accused of corruption, money laundering, fraud, forgery and uttering.

In court papers in support of granting the restraint order, national director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi successfully argued that the defendants received benefits totalling R583,806,135, in addition to money totalling R24m that was allegedly siphoned to Impulse employees.

The crimes were allegedly committed in relation to alleged unlawfully concluded contract prices between ABB SA, and subcontractors Impulse and Indiwize in 2016 and 2017.

In December, the Swiss multinational engineering firm agreed to pay R2.5bn in punitive reparations to SA after being fraudulently awarded a multibillion-rand contract at the Kusile power plant.

This in addition to R1.6bn paid to Eskom in 2020 after its implication in state capture-era corruption.

The National Prosecuting Authority said at the time that the settlement had the immediate benefit of saving costs in the context of a protracted trial against the corporate entity (ABB Ltd) and securing funds upfront for the fiscus while criminal investigations into implicated people continue.

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