Johannesburg – The Hawks have nabbed a 65-year-old former head of department for Roads and Public Works and a company director who appeared today facing charges of contravention of the Public Finance Management Act, fraud, corruption and money laundering.
According to the Hawks, both suspects were arrested earlier this morning by the Hawks Serious Corruption Investigation Team in Kimberley.
“It is alleged that during 2003, the Northern Cape Department of Health, together with the Department of Roads and Public Works as implementing agents, embarked on a project to construct a new mental health facility in Kimberley. The original contract was for an amount of R290 million.”
It is further alleged that some of the constructed buildings faced possible demolition after R420 million was paid to a liquidated contractor on a project that was originally budgeted for R290 million," according to the Hawks.
The Hawks say it was discovered that the company that was appointed did not have the capacity to render the service, and the contract was terminated while money was already paid.
“Work on the project has since been halted, leaving the facility incomplete and unusable and at a considerable cost to the Department of Health. Officials did not follow normal procurement procedures when appointing the consultant.
“The mental health hospital, while under construction, experienced issues of maladministration for the years that the project was in progress,” added the Hawks.
The Star