A project manager from Setheo Engineering is on Monday expected to apply for bail when he appears in the Specialised Commercial Crimes court in Palm Ridge, east of Johannesburg.
It’s alleged the company was awarded R126-million contract by Johannesburg’s City Power in 2015 to build a new substation in Eldorado Park.
However, a City of Joburg internal investigation found that in February 2017, almost R66-million was paid to the service provider without any physical work being done.
It is alleged that two City Power officials colluded with officials from Setheo Engineering to ensure that invoices were paid.
The two officials have since been dismissed.
Termination of contract
In November 2017, City Power terminated its contract with Setheo Engineering following its failure to build the substation in Eldorado Park.
In a statement, City Power said “Worsening matters was the fact that Setheo was also awarded a similar tender worth R44 million to conduct repairs at the Hopefield Power Station. By July 2017, they were paid R22 million by the City, however, work estimated to be worth only R1.5 million had been done at the time.”
City Power then says a criminal case was opened with the police, leading to the arrest of the two officials.
