DA Demands That Eskom Hand Over Wyman Report To Parliament

"It is unacceptable that Eskom thought they could get away with this lie for so long," says DA.

The Democratic Alliance on Tuesday demanded that power utility Eskom hand over its report about Gupta-linked Trillian to Parliament for scrutiny.

"The DA will ensure that all those responsible for this will be held to account at Parliament's upcoming Eskom Inquiry," DA MP Natasha Mazzone said.

"The DA will write to the acting Public Enterprises committee chairperson, Ms Zukiswa Ranthoto, to ask that she urgently ensure Eskom hands over the report by Oliver Wyman to Parliament."

Mazzone's comments come after Eskom admitted it had lied to reporters in June when stating that an outside audit had found nothing wrong with its contract with Trillian, Business Day reported.

"Gupta-captured Eskom leadership, the power utility has floundered from one corruption scandal to another and enough is enough." DA Natasha Mazzone

"Under the toxic influence of the seemingly Gupta-captured Eskom leadership, the power utility has floundered from one corruption scandal to another and enough is enough," said Mazzone.

"It has now been revealed that Oliver Wyman not only warned against the approval of these payments, but had actually red flagged these payments, stating that Eskom needed to conduct a legal review of all contracts."

She said Eskom must be held accountable for its "unacceptable lies".

Eskom claimed the R1.6 billion paid to the Gupta-linked Trillian and global consultancy firm McKinsey was above board, when in fact it wasn't, Business Day reported on Tuesday.

Eskom chief financial officer Anoj Singh was allegedly behind the power utility's lies.

"The fact is that Eskom defended these payments and stated that everything was above board following an investigation by.. Oliver Wyman in June. It is unacceptable that Eskom thought they could get away with this lie for so long," said Mazzone.

According to Business Day, it is alleged that false information about the review was given to Singh, who in turn passed on the incorrect information to the media.

Business Day/Online Website

Eskom response

Eskom's head of legal, Suzanne Daniels, reportedly confirmed the Wyman report.

"We received a legal query from Oliver Wyman concerning a factually incorrect statement based on the firm's technical review undertaken on Eskom's behalf," she said.

"We have taken full responsibility for same, hence the correction. Oliver Wyman is fully justified to be aggrieved by this occurrence; we are in the process of remedying our relations with ... Oliver Wyman."

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown was not immediately available to comment on the Wyman report.

In May this year, Eskom released a statement which stated: "We would like to state categorically that Eskom has no contracts in place with Trillian Capital Partners and/or associated companies."

Singh who has been at the centre of allegations into state capture at Eskom had allegedly travelled to Dubai at the Gupta's expense, at a time when the family was sealing controversial deals allegedly with Transnet.

He has denied allegations of wrongdoing and in July the DA laid criminal charges against Singh for breaching the Public Finance Management Act.

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