If McKinsey Never Contracted Trillian, Why Did Eskom Pay? Dladla Also Wants To Know.

The parastatal has taken note of McKinsey's claims and is investigating "variables" in the relationship.
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In the latest of the to-and-fro between Eskom and multinational consultancy firm, McKinsey, the parastatal said its investigations would determine how and why it paid monies to Gupta-linked company, Trillian.

Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said now that McKinsey was disputing that it subcontracted Trillian, Eskom "is going to determine how and why Eskom paid monies to Trillian".

"The whole matter will now be open to scrutiny," Phasiwe said.

During a conference on Wednesday, where the energy producer's annual financial results were disclosed, Eskom's acting board chairperson Zethembe Khoza admitted to paying Trillian almost R500 million in consultancy fees but denied that they had a direct contract with the company.

Eskom instead said Trillian was paid because they were subcontracted by McKinsey -- who were enlisted in September 2015 to provide advisory services to the value of R1 billion per year.

But McKinsey came back fighting on Thursday, saying they had never entered into a contract with Trillian because of concerns over the Gupta-linked company's ownership.

Phasiwe said Eskom's interim group chief executive Johnny Dladla indicated at the conference that he has instituted an investigation into the matter.

"He [Dladla] wants to get to the bottom of this matter because there are so many variables, and these variables keep on moving. We do note that McKinsey refutes that they have a relationship with Trillian," Phasiwe said.

"From our side, our management [on Wednesday] did say that they had a contract with McKinsey and that Trillian was a subcontractor of McKinsey and that's how Trillian was paid."

He said Khoza made the statement because he believed it to be fact.

"Khoza is taking this as a fact because from Eskom's side, Eskom does not have a contract with Trillian. Trillian got involved in the process through McKinsey...Now that McKinsey is disputing that it has never subcontracted Trillian, we are now going to determine as to how and why Eskom paid monies to Trillian."

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