Dodgy PPE tender: Court grants preservation order against luxury vehicle bought for govt official
The Eastern Cape High Court in East London granted the Asset Forfeiture Unit a preservation order against a luxury vehicle purchased under suspicious circumstances.
Gallo Images/Jacques Stander
- The Eastern Cape High Court has granted the Asset
Forfeiture Unit a preservation order against a vehicle bought for a senior
official at the provincial education department. - The order was made against a Mercedes-Benz V-Class.
- Judge Phillip Zilwa said the property was in the
possession of the police.
The Eastern Cape High Court in East London has
granted the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) a preservation order against a vehicle
that was bought for a senior provincial education department official,
allegedly as gratification for awarding a tender.
The tender was for the supply of personal
protective equipment (PPE).
The order was made against the Mercedes-Benz
V-Class, which was purchased through an elaborate scheme involving three deals
initiated with a payment of R328 000 paid by the supplier, Sigqibo Makupula of
Kups Trading, towards the purchase of the vehicle for the provincial department’s
chief director for supply chain management, Marius Harmse.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Luxolo
Tyali, said Harmse was responsible for the department that signed off on the
tender, which resulted in Makupula being paid R4 million by the Eastern Cape
Department of Education (ECDOE) on 31 August 2020.
Tyali said:
From the evidence available, the R328 000 that Makupula paid, ostensibly as a deposit for the first transaction, was [allegedly] laundered through all the three transactions until it was embedded in the last transact, which secured the V-Class Mercedes for Harmse’s benefit and enjoyment. This is a conflict given the fact that the R328 000 comes from a tender that Harmse’s department signed off on.
The NPA said Harmse and the salesperson who
facilitated the transactions opposed the preservation application.
In handing down his judgment, Judge Phillip Zilwa
said the property was currently in the possession of the police on the basis
that it constitutes proceeds of unlawful activities, to wit, corruption and/or
money laundering.
“The granting of this preservation order is
part and parcel of the law enforcement agencies’ unwavering efforts to fight
back against corruption in the government sphere, and not only are the law
enforcement agencies making headway in this fight, but they are doing it
together, with smooth cooperation between the diverse units,” said Tyali.
Source link
