The Central Energy Fund (CEF) may have lost up to R141-million under the stewardship of chief executive Renosi Mokate who was suspended in September, Business Day reported on Thursday.
The newspaper is in possession of documents that will be presented at a hearing into Mokate’s suspension next month. A schedule of charges against Mokate suggest that losses were substantially more than the R77,8-million announced so far. The CEF is the state’s holding company in the petroleum industry.
Mokate was suspended after an audit of the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF), the oil trading arm of the CEF, showed losses of R40,80-million in debt write-offs and crude oil trading in the 2001/02 financial year and a further R37-million in crude oil trading after the close of that financial year.
Mokate faces charges of negligent management of crude oil trading transactions and failure to comply with company policy on such crude purchases and sales.
The charge sheet also alleges she was guilty of financial misconduct and making false representations to the SFF and CEF boards, Business Day said.
The Star, meanwhile, reported on Thursday that the CEF pharmaceutical subsidiary Enerkom, which once manufactured the controversial Aids drug Oxihumate-K, is to be auctioned on October 30.
Enerkom attracted international attention when it tried to distribute the coal-based drug and had it tested on Tanzanian soldiers and civilians. The Department of Health withdrew permission for the drug’s istribution because of the high chrome content.
A representative for the auction company Aucor told The Star it was selling off Enerkom in its entirety — including intellectual property a laboratory and other facilities at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria. – Sapa