Hawks raid Lekwa Municipality after tender fraud case opened
The municipality was one of the top 10 municipalities in the country owing Eskom billions.
The Hawks. Picture: Bloemfontein Courant.
The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit descended on the Lekwa Municipality in Standerton in Mpumalanga on Friday, searching for documents as part of an investigation into alleged tender fraud.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Lucy Sekgotodi confirmed just before 12:15 on Friday that officers were on site at the municipal offices carrying out a search and seizure operation.
“The purpose of the visit is to search and seize the tender documents. There were complaints about tender fraud and the case docket was registered.
“The Hawks are here to collect the documents for further investigation from the year 2017 up to 2020,” she said.
Last year, News24 reported that the municipality was one of the top 10 municipalities in the country owing Eskom billions.
By June, debt owed to Eskom breached the R1.1 billion mark.
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs found the municipality had an irregular expenditure bill of more than R388.9 million at the end of the 2018/19 financial year.
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