Eskom offered China's Dongfang R800m "Contingency Fee"

Eskom secretly sought to pay China’s Dongfang an R800m "contingency fee" on top of the R4bn it quoted to supply a new boiler for its Duvha power station in Mpumalanga.

The R800m is in addition to an inflated R600m advance payment authorised by the power utility’s board.

This is the latest controversy involving Eskom’s decision to award the tender to the state-owned Chinese company even though its bid was R1bn more expensive than its rivals’.

On Friday the High Court in Johannesburg interdicted the contract pending an application to have the tender set aside after losing bidders Murray & Roberts (M&R) and General Electric (GE) accused Eskom in their filings of rigging the tender to favour Dongfang.

Eskom awarded the tender to Dongfang just days after Gupta-linked financial advisory firm Trillian gave the deal the thumbs up.

BD South Africa