Eskom is planning to take disciplinary action over its former acting chief executive following allegations of conflict of interest involving millions of Rands, Business Day reported on Tuesday.
Formal charges will reportedly be put to the former chief executive, Matshela Koko, this week, and an investigation into chief financial officer Anoj Singh is also reportedly due to take place.
In May, Eskom reportedly hired law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr to investigate whether there had been any wrongdoing, after Impulse International was awarded contracts worth millions. Koko's stepdaughter, Koketso Choma, was a director at Impulse and owned 35% of the shares of the company, Business Day reported.
Acting Eskom board chair Zethembe Khoza told Business Day: "The chairperson of the audit committee is now busy finalising the charges and we would hope to finalise the matter before the end of the month."
Cliffe Dekker reportedly found that Eskom had paid Impulse more than R390 million for 10 contracts awarded since July 2014. Senior counsel reportedly advised that Koko go through a disciplinary process on six charges.
This will include his failure to declare the conflict of interest involving his stepdaughter as well as questions around whether Choma relinquished her shares after Koko apparently told her to.
According to Business Day, the report says: "There are sufficient anomalies in the explanation actually given by Koko and further many unanswered questions from the explanations given by Koko ... for Eskom simply to be satisfied that the matter can be closed. There are sufficient issues which arise which would warrant disciplinary proceedings to be instituted against Koko. This would be in the interests of both Koko and Eskom since, through the interrogative process of a disciplinary process... the anomalies and unanswered questions can be fully canvassed."