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Cape Town - Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown said she had no idea that Eskom was lying about payments to Gupta-linked Trillian.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a parliamentary hearing on SA Express, Brown was pressed about the two-day ultimatum she gave to the Eskom board to explain its business relations with Trillian.
Brown was asked if she had known about the Trillian matter and the fact that Eskom was lying about it, to which she answered: “No, I didn’t.”
She said she expects Eskom to meet her deadline, which is in the next 24 hours.
Asked if Eskom’s report would be made public, Brown said she is “unsure”. “It’s Eskom’s report and I’ll allow them to decide on that.”
Brown’s ultimatum to Eskom comes after the power utility’s head of legal Suzanne Daniels admitted on Monday that it had lied about receiving the all clear from global consultancy Oliver Wyman over payments to the Gupta-linked Trillian firm.
The consultancy pressured Eskom to come clean after it initially claimed that a R1.6bn payment to Trillian and McKinsey was above board.
Brown has given Eskom two days to table a report explaining payments and business relations related to the Gupta-linked Trillian firm.
The Eskom board convened a meeting on Tuesday to resolve issues around both the Trillian and McKinsey controversies that have been dogging the state utility for months.
The minister's spokesperson Colin Cruywagen said Brown had asked Eskom's board as far back as June to clarify its business with Trillian.
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