Telkom is paying a security company R6,6-million a month to monitor a copper-cable alarm system that it bought outright three years ago for R180-million and should be monitoring itself.
Sources close to the utility told the Mail & Guardian that the alarm system, bought from Radio Surveillance Security Services (RSSS), was meant to be implemented in Telkom’s control room but that this had never happened.
Last week the M&G reported that an internal Telkom report had fingered three senior staffers for alleged corruption and fraud. They were accused of colluding with security companies hired to protect and monitor Telkom’s copper-cable network.
The report queried why payments to the security companies increased by between 42% and 125% between the 2008 and 2009 financial years.
Telkom now spends R18-million a month on these security companies.
The Telkom report says that RSSS charges R2,6-million a month to supply Telkom with copper-cable alarm systems designed to detect attempted theft.
However, it states that the telecommunications giant has no supporting documentation for the 593 alarms for which RSSS charges it.
The report says that Telkom pays RSSS R4-million a month for another 877 alarms. There are supporting documents for these alarms, the report says, but the “majority of these alarm panels are redundant and not even at places where they are supposed to be”.
RSSS said all the alarms it supplied to Telkom were in place and in accordance with Telkom’s requirements and orders.
“We have no knowledge of this [the report’s claims], as all our invoices are accounted for,” said RSSS director Selvan Narainsamy.
Telkom said last week that it had commissioned an independent forensic investigation into the allegations and that it would not comment further until that process was completed.
It refused to comment on the new allegations regarding RSSS, as the matter was the subject of an independent forensic investigation.
The M&G received a letter this week from Campbell Attorneys, lawyers for RSSS, stating that its instructions are that any contractual relations that may exist between RSSS and any of its clients are confidential and that RSSS will not comment regarding the contents of any contracts with any of its clients.