Koko fraud case struck off roll over undue delays
The Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court yesterday struck former Eskom boss Matshela Koko's fraud, corruption and money laundering case off the roll due to unreasonable delays, reports TimesLIVE.
The fate of one of SA’s biggest state capture cases rested in Mpumalanga Magistrate Stanley Jacob's hands, who decided that fraud, corruption and money laundering charges in the R2.2bn Kusile case involving Koko may only proceed once NPA head, Advocate Shamila Batohi has signed off on it.
If the matter has to be reinstated, a written letter from the NDPP must be obtained, Jacobs said.
He rejected the NPA's Investigating Directorate's request for a further postponement. He said the inquiry into unreasonable delay found that there were undue delays in the matter.
The reputation of the NPA which had listed the Kusile case as one of its nine ‘seminal’ state capture cases, took another knock after acquittals in the Nulane case in Bloemfontein and the unsuccessful extradition of the Guptas from the UAE last year.
Koko and seven co-accused were arrested in October last year.
The court indicated in March that if the state could not confirm it had completed its investigations at the next hearing in September, Section 342A of the Criminal Procedure Act would be considered.
At that hearing, the state requested a further six-month postponement after having been granted two six-month postponements in October last year and in March.
Charged alongside Koko are his wife Mosima and stepdaughters Koketso Aren and Thato Choma. The other accused are Hlupheka Sithole, Eskom's former project director at Kusile and the most senior official on site, lawyer Johannes Coetzee, Watson Seswai, Lese’tsa Mutchinya and former SA Local Government Association CEO Thabo Mokwena.
Mutchinya, a businessman, was added to the case in August.
The case involves charges of corruption in a R2.2bn control and instrumentation tender won by Zabb, the local division of the Swedish-Swiss firm ABB.
Koko, who was Eskom group CEO at the time, is alleged to have played a vital role in the awarding of contracts to Impulse International, ABB and other subcontractors, reports TimesLIVE.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
