ABB will return EUR 85 million of embezzled funds to Eskom

In South Africa, the national electricity company Eskom continues to collect money from companies suspected of corruption and irregular payments. Latest profit: EUR 85 million will be paid by Zurich’s engineering group ABB Eskom has become one of the symbols of corruption during the presidency Jacob Zuma and embezzlement in connection with the Gupta family has brought the company to its knees, and the South African authorities now intend to recover the stolen money .

as reported from Johannesburg,Claire Bargelès

The payment from ABB, the largest since the beginning of investigations by the South African Special Investigation Unit (SIU), relates to a contract won in 2015. The engineering group had been appointed Kusile coal power plant, a mega-project launched more than ten years ago. This facility is still not finished today and has cost much more than estimates.

The Zurich Group preferred to put an end to the case by cooperating with the Investigation Unit on its own initiative and by accepting this agreement. According to the government, the company should complete its work on the Kusile project to avoid further delays.

ABB is not the only company to have to repay money due to corruption in South Africa: For example, the consulting firm McKinsey announced this week that it will donate 35 million euros to two other public companies. And according to the current director of Eskom, this is just the beginning of a long series, as he now intends to recover money from other companies and The Gupta family.

In total, the government estimates that more than € 27 billion has been stolen from the state during the presidency in Jacob Zuma.

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