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Tegeta coal prepayment not a loan, says Eskom

───   12:31 Sun, 23 Apr 2017

Tegeta coal prepayment not a loan, says Eskom | News Article

Cape Town - The over R600 million Eskom paid to Tegeta, a company in which the Gupta family has interests, was not a loan, but a prepayment, the state-owned power utility said on Saturday.


Eskom also wanted it made clear that Tegeta honoured its side of the agreement by delivering all the pre-paid coal, leaving no liability.

''Eskom finds the assertions that the prepayment made to Tegeta 'was a loan' pure nonsense; it is based on no facts but fiction,'' it said in a statement.

This was after BusinessLive claimed that a leaked draft Treasury document indicates that the prepayment should be converted to a loan with interest.

Eskom defended its granting of the pre-payment request, explaining that it was in the context of power blackouts and security of supply risk.

''Eskom received value for money in that coal was delivered as agreed in terms of the agreement,'' said Eskom.

It explained that: ''Conditions relating to the prepayment included a 3.5% prepayment discount on the coal price and sufficient security guarantees, which included the pledging of Tegeta shares.

An internal audit showed that the full amount of the prepayment to Tegeta was recovered via coal delivered to Eskom by 2016.

''During this period of time Eskom had sufficient security in place to cover any potential default by Tegeta.

''Given the fact that the prepayment was recovered, it remains a grave concern that perceptions continue that a supposed 'liability' still exists.''

The prepayment came to light in the first stage of a Public Protector investigation into claims of ''state capture'' by the Guptas, and insinuations that they had a hand in key government appointments - a task reserved for President Jacob Zuma.

Eskom has warned anybody who comes across a draft of the Treasury report that it is not yet complete and its contents would be speculative.

Tegeta – a company owned by the controversial Gupta family and Zuma’s son Duduzane – scored coal-supply contracts from Eskom to the value of R4 billion.


News24

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