MINISTER ‘PETITIONED’ TO STOP INVESTIGATION

MBABANE – Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Peter Bhembe has been ‘petitioned’ to stop a pending investigation.

This is the investigation at the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) with regards to an alleged E400 million fraud against some of its suppliers.
The electricity company hired a forensic auditor to investigate the allegations of fraud and corruption.

Our sister publication, the Times Sunday, reported that one of the suppliers, Matfola Investment (Pty) Ltd, through its director Member of Parliament Robert Magongo stopped the auditor, Vernon Naidoo from continuing with the audit.
He is said to have informed Naidoo that people were coming for him because he did not have a work permit. Naidoo, immediately left the country.
Sensing that there was something amiss about Naidoo’s appointment, the suppliers then decided to seek the intervention of the minister.

Contravention

They alleged that the appointment of the Forensic Auditors (Prodogy of South Africa) was also in contravention of the law in that it did not go via Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (ESPPRA).
In their letter, the suppliers informed Bhembe that they were unfairly and unjustly suspended without representation.
Part of the letter read: “To our greatest shock and dismay, EEC has flatly and without any explanation refused to pay us for goods we delivered and services provided. So bully and arrogant is the company that it has ignored our pleas to, at least, return the goods.

Destroyed

‘‘Instead, we have been flooded with arrogant responses from both the EEC MD and Legal advisor. As a result, our small businesses have been destroyed.
“To our greatest surprise, we have learnt that EEC has awarded tenders in the excess of E100 million to South African SMEs at the directive of the Board of Directors.
‘‘This was immediately after the rushed announcement of the fabricated fraud in June 2018. All of the under-listed suppliers were excluded and the question is; why export money that should be uplifting the Swazi economy to benefit foreign SMEs?”
They also alleged that these tenders amounting to E100 million were not approved by the ESPPRA and this was in complete violation of the Procurement Act - which all State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are required to adhere to.

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