The papers were served in the North Gauteng High Court on 12 accused, the power utility said, and pertain to the suspect wrangling that helped the Gupta brothers' exploration company Tegeta gain control of Optimum Coal, before securing a lucrative supply deal with Eskom.

"The funds were lost in a concerted effort corruptly to divert financial resources from Eskom, to improperly and illegally benefit the Gupta family and entities controlled by the said family and their associates during their 2015-16 acquisition of the operations of Optimum Coal Holdings Limited (OCH)," Eskom said.

"This delictual claim for damages that Eskom suffered relates to the recovery of approximately R3.8 billion in funds illegally diverted from Eskom to help the Gupta family and its associates to acquire the operations of OCH, which owned the Optimum Coal Mining (Pty) Ltd that supplied the Hendrina power station with coal. 

"The further delictual claim for damages pertains to the payments that were unlawfully made to Trillian by Eskom Executives."

The court papers name former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, former chief financial officer Anoj Singh, former group executive for generation Matshela Koko, former company secretary and head of legal affairs Suzanne Daniels, as well as former board chairman Ben Ngubane and board members Chwayita Mabude, and Mark Pamensky.

Summons were also served on Zwane, Tony, Atul and Ajay Gupta and their business associate Salim Aziz Essa.

"These 12 defendants acted in a concerted effort whose objective was the corrupt, alternatively irregular, diversion of resources from Eskom. As a result of their actions in the acquisition of OCH during this period, Eskom suffered at least R3.8 billion in losses which it is legally obliged and morally burdened to recover, together with the interest thereon," Eskom said.

"All of the former executives and board members breached their fiduciary duty of care and good faith to Eskom, and acted in a concerted state capture effort with the Gupta Brothers, Mosebenzi Zwane and Salim Aziz Essa to illegally divert funds from Eskom. "

The Gupta brothers were majority shareholders in Oakbay Investments, and Fidelity Enterprises, that in turn owned the majority shares in Tegeta Resources & Exploration. 

The brothers and Essa have fled South Africa and are based in Dubai. Zwane currently serves as the chairman of Parliament's portfolio committee on transport.

African News Agency