Cape Town – The Hawks reportedly revealed on Tuesday that former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter only submitted a controversial private intelligence report on corruption at Eskom the day before he appeared in Parliament in April.
Hawks boss Godfrey Lebeya told Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) that the Hawks had not been not privy to the report.
Scopa met with the SA Police Service, the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit on Tuesday to determine whether it should initiate an inquiry into the corruption and maladministration allegations made by De Ruyter in the days before he left office.
According to EWN, the report – which was largely funded by Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) – is believed to be the document on which De Ruyter based many of his corruption allegations.
“We were not informed other than what we read in the document that has been submitted,” the report quoted Lebeya as saying.
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A public official is required by the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca) to report evidence of corruption that involves amounts greater than R100 000, News24 reported.
Ruyter reportedly also refused to speak to police about his explosive interview with eNCA.
In the interview, De Ruyter alleged high-ranking government officials were linked to the corruption and theft that has emptied the utility’s coffers.
Lebeya said De Ruyter was approached by the Hawks’ Mpumalanga head the day after a televised interview aired.
“Mr De Ruyter declined to meet the officer but referred him to his lawyer, who promised to talk to the officer, but unfortunately, the promise to come back to the provincial head did not materialise,” Lebeya was quoted as saying.
Also when he appeared in front of Scopa, De Ruyter refused to name a minister he linked to the corruption claims, telling parliamentarians that doing so would jeopardise ongoing investigations.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
