Eskom
17 December 2020
Electricity Supply Commission (Eskom) has announced it has recovered $109 million from ABB South Africa as a full settlement for a dispute over corrupt contract for work on the Kusile power station awarded by the power utility. Eskom said that this settlement is subject to a review of the High Court.
ABB, formerly ASEA Brown Boveri, is a Swedish-Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It is one of the world’s leading power and automation engineering companies. ABB South Africa is its branch.
Investigations on behalf of Eskom was carried out by the special investigating unit (SIU), the Hawks and other agencies including the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
SIU said that certain Eskom officials illegally and fraudulently induced Eskom to pay an estimated $54million to ABB in illegal Variation Orders. SIU and Eskom will file civil action against those parties. Those who were responsible for awarding the corrupt contract have already left Eskom.
Eskom and SIU agreed that the settlement was fair and represented the damages that Eskom incurred. Eskom CEO, Andre De Ruyter said that Eskom will continue to work with ABB to complete the work on Kusile to prevent any further delays, with the proviso that ABB will take no profit from the endeavor.
mybroadband.co.za reported.
