JOHANNESBURG- South African authorities want global consultancy McKinsey and local firm Trillian to repay 1.6 billion rand ($130 million) they earned for a contract to advise state utility Eskom, a senior prosecutor told eNCA television on Tuesday.
President Jacob Zuma this month agreed to set up a commission of enquiry into allegations of influence-peddling by the Gupta brothers, who controlled the company McKinsey partnered with on the Eskom contract in 2016.
Parliament is also investigating whether McKinsey knowingly let funds from Eskom be diverted to Trillian as a way of securing the contract.
"The 1.6 billion, we are asking that they pay that back. That precisely relates to the Eskom contract," Advocate Knorx Molelle told eNCA.
He said prosecutors were not about to make arrests or ask for court summonses. A source at the state prosecutors' office earlier told Reuters that a court had authorized the freezing of 1.6 billion rand in assets earned by McKinsey and Trillian.
($1 = 12.2528 rand)
(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) ((alexander.winning@tr.com; +27 11 775 3158; Reuters Messaging: alexander.winning.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
President Jacob Zuma this month agreed to set up a commission of enquiry into allegations of influence-peddling by the Gupta brothers, who controlled the company McKinsey partnered with on the Eskom contract in 2016.
Parliament is also investigating whether McKinsey knowingly let funds from Eskom be diverted to Trillian as a way of securing the contract.
"The 1.6 billion, we are asking that they pay that back. That precisely relates to the Eskom contract," Advocate Knorx Molelle told eNCA.
He said prosecutors were not about to make arrests or ask for court summonses. A source at the state prosecutors' office earlier told Reuters that a court had authorized the freezing of 1.6 billion rand in assets earned by McKinsey and Trillian.
($1 = 12.2528 rand)
(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) ((alexander.winning@tr.com; +27 11 775 3158; Reuters Messaging: alexander.winning.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
