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The business rights watchdog AfriBusiness yesterday launched an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000) (PAIA) against Eskom to ascertain what amount of the R2 billion fine imposed on Optimum Coal Mine was paid by Tegeta Exploration & Resources (partly owned by the controversial Gupta family).
It has come to AfriBusiness’s attention that a settlement was reached by Eskom and Optimum Coal Mine and that an agreed upon amount of the fine was paid by Tegeta Exploration & Resources as reported by Paul Burkhardt of Bloomberg News on the financial news website Fin24.
The PAIA application is necessary to determine what exactly transpired and, as Eskom is a state-owned company, it cannot deny the divulgence of information that is of interest to the public.
“Keeping the rife corruption in some state sectors and especially state-owned entities in mind, it is of paramount importance that there should be transparency in all sectors,” says Charles Castle, Manager at AfriBusiness.
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