Pretoria - Former Eskom senior manager France Hlakudi yesterday appeared in the Pretoria Regional Court on charges involving personal tax fraud totalling R30 million.
His case was postponed to November 10 to allow his legal team to study the docket.
He is being charged with fraud and contravention of the Tax Administration Act in relation to his personal tax affairs and that of his companies, Hlakudi Translation and Interpretation CC, Coxinel Chicken (Pty) Ltd and Bon Services Telcom CC.
It is claimed he pocketed bribes while in senior management at Eskom.
Hlakudi is also accused number one in the R745m Eskom Kusile corruption case.
In that case, he is accused of receiving millions from Eskom sub- contractors during the time when he was Eskom Kusile power station senior manager of capital contracts, before his resignation on November 13, 2017.
The charge sheet details how several subcontractors to power giant Eskom allegedly fraudulently paid money over to Hlakudi’s companies.
The South African Revenue Service and the investigating directorate are claiming R30 233 545.46 which they said was due to the taxman and not paid over by Hlakudi's companies.
Investigative Directorate head Hermione Cronje said this was one of the build-up cases to the many legs of corruption at Eskom, which the directorate planned on exposing and hauling before the courts.
The tax charges against Hlakudi followed a joint investigation by the serious commercial crime unit and the revenue service at Sars.
It relates to him allegedly not declaring his income during the period 2016 to 2018.
He is out on warning in this case.
He is, meanwhile, out on R300 000 bail in the R745m fraud and corruption case linked to the alleged kickbacks he and his companies received regarding Kusile building contracts.
He is facing charges in the Kusile case alongside Abram Masango, also a former Eskom head and businessmen Antonio Trindade and Maphoko Kgomoeswana.
Their arrests earlier this year followed a year-long high level probe by the Hawks.
Pretoria News