Former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe must pay back an irregular pension benefit of R9.9-million after his application for leave to appeal a high court judgment was dismissed.
Former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe must pay back an irregular pension benefit of R9.9-million after his application for leave to appeal a high court judgment was dismissed.
Mel Govender, legal and compliance group executive at Eskom, made the announcement during a presentation to the parliamentary standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday morning.
Govender said the Eskom Pension & Provident Fund (EPPF) had been successful “in securing an order against Mr Molefe’s pension for the return of various funds”.
In a July high court judgment, Molefe was ordered to pay the Eskom fund the difference between the pension benefits paid to him in 2016 and the lump-sum pension benefits payment he had transferred from the Transnet Retirement Fund to the EPPF.
The Pretoria high court judgment reads: “Mr Molefe is ordered to repay the fund the amounts of R7 981 727.94 and R2 003 812.70 together with mora interest thereon from 31 October 2019 to date of repayment.”
After the order, Molefe applied for leave to appeal.
“This application for leave to appeal has been dismissed, which means that Eskom can now enforce the order,” Govender told the committee.
Molefe received an early retirement payout of more than R30-million, while the required age for early retirement was 55.
The money was paid to Molefe in November 2016 after his resignation as Eskom boss, having served 11 months in the position.
In September, Eskom confirmed it had recovered the R30-million it unlawfully paid to the EPPF to boost Molefe’s early retirement fund during 2016.
Molefe’s failed court appeal follows his arrest in August on charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering, alongside Anoj Singh, former chief executive and chief financial officer of Transnet.
The charges against Molefe, Singh and co-accused stem from the procurement 10 years ago of 1 064 locomotives at a cost of R54-billion. The matter is due back in court on 30 November after it was postponed last Friday.
On Wednesday, Eskom told Scopa it was pursuing civil action against seven former directors and executives “to recover large sums of money lost by Eskom as a result of state capture and the involvement of the former executives in it”.
Eskom hopes to recover R3.8-billion.