Magistrate ‘failed to declare Eskom interests’
Acting Magistrate Stanley Jacobs, who presided over and ultimately kicked out the Investigating Directorate's (ID) multimillion-rand corruption case against former Eskom executive Matshela Koko and others, allegedly failed to disclose his own business dealings with the power utility.
A News24 investigation reveals that Jacobs is a director and shareholder of a company named BEP African Consulting; a company first registered in 2000.
He resigned as a director in 2001 and was reappointed in 2008. According to company records, has remained a director to date.
According to internal Eskom accounting records News24 first obtained as part of The Eskom Files investigation, BEP was paid R14.3m between December 2011 and July 2016 – a time that Koko and another of his co-accused, Frans Sithole, held senior positions at the power utility.
BEP was one of hundreds of unrelated companies and individuals flagged by forensic investigation teams from Bowmans law firm as requiring further probes linked to contracts worth R176bn.
The Bowmans work was eventually scuppered.
Jacobs provided contradictory versions when asked about his failure to disclose his interest in BEP and the potential perception of a conflict of interest that could create.
He told News24 that it was a ‘coincidence’ that he was roped in to the case.
Magistrate Deon van Rooyen, had ‘confused the dates’ when the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sat in Middelburg and then requested another magistrate, Deon Minnie, to postpone the case. Attempts to reach Van Rooyen to confirm this were unsuccessful.
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.
