Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has denied that there were any private investigations conducted by private security firms at any of the state-owned entities (SOEs).
He said investigations at Eskom, Transnet, Denel and other SOEs were conducted by internal security teams and they give information to the police for investigation purposes and arrest those responsible.
Former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter was recently accused of conducting a private intelligence operation at the power utility.
Senior Eskom officials have said as recent as last month that they have not seen the intelligence report by De Ruyter.
De Ruyter had hired former national police commissioner, George Fivaz, to do intelligence operations at Eskom.
De Ruyter has also told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) that he had told Gordhan and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security advisor Sydney Mufamadi about senior politicians involved in looting and theft at Eskom.
Gordhan and Mufamadi said they did not have insight into what De Ruyter was doing despite him mentioning this investigation. They also did not see the report.
The Special Investigating Unit said it would probe the intelligence operation at Eskom.
De Ruyter had appeared before Parliament’s finance watchdog, Scopa, to explain his role in the private intelligence operation at Eskom. He also spoke about the involvement of politicians in alleged corrupt activities at Eskom.
It also emerged that it was big business that had paid R50 million for the work done by Fivaz and his team.
But in a parliamentary reply to a question from Economic Freedom Fighters member of Parliament (MP) Omphile Maotwe, Gordhan said none of the SOEs were doing private investigations.
He said the same applied at Eskom where they have internal security teams doing this work.
“Eskom has its own Forensics and Anti-Corruption Department which provides an independent and objective forensic service into fraud, corruption, and general and financial irregularities in Eskom,” Gordhan said.
“Eskom’s internal capacity is augmented by a panel of external investigators. This service (including the costs of the panel) is funded from Eskom’s own operating account, and no investigation is funded by external entities or private donors. In cases where our forensic investigations uncover criminal conduct, these are referred to law enforcement agencies for further investigation,” he said.
“Eskom Group Security did not conduct, is not conducting nor has it authorised any private investigation that is funded by other companies or private donors to date,” Gotdhan added.
“The Security Department, through its internal investigation mandate, has contracts in place for outsourced specialised investigation services focusing on high impact crimes such as coal, diesel, and fuel oil crimes affecting Eskom or infrastructure crimes. These types of contracts are fully funded by Eskom. All Eskom criminal investigations are conducted by the SAPS.”
He added that investigations into corruption and other crimes at Transnet were probed by Investigations Functions “which resides within the ambit of Transnet Group Security.”
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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