According to the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Investigative Directorate spokesperson, Sindisiwe Seboka, the study was to ascertain if the provincial government flagship project, which included the Estina Dairy project under ‘Mohumamobung’, would be a success or not.

The department allegedly transgressed the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) by not following due process when it appointed the Nulane Investment company, owned by Iqbal Meer Sharma, to do the feasibility study. Seboka says Nulane then outsourced the study to two companies, which later over-charged the department with R24 million.

“We are alleging that, in order to siphon off money, he then subcontracted another company and the other sub-company was supposed to do the same services which [a well-known company] had already done. So the R19 million was paid to that company which already did nothing. The reason we have the officials here before court, just for clarity, is that they didn’t follow the PFMA and they didn’t comply with their fiduciary duties in order to make sure that they do proper vetting of a company to find out if it can be done cheaper within the country,” she adds.  

Four people, including the former Head of the Department (HOD) Peter Thabethe, former Chief Finance Officer (CFO), Seipati Dlamini, are in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court facing charges of fraud and corruption.

The state requested that the case with regards to Peter Thabethe and Iqbal Meer Sharma be postponed to 7 June 2021 for formal bail application in the #EstinaDairy adjacent case. This means the two will Thursday be remanded in custody. With regards to Limakatso Moorosi and Seipati Dlamini, the state requested that the matter stand down till 14:00. Magistrate Estelle de Lange has granted this request and all parties agree to it.

OFM News