Prosecution reveals how 'dodgy' companies ripped off Mpumalanga Education Dept

The prosecution in a multimillion-rand tender fraud case at the Mpumalanga Department of Education argued that service providers were allegedly used to rip off the department.

On Tuesday, some of the 36 suspects linked to the scandal were granted bail ranging from R5,000 to R50,000 in the Mbombela Magistrates Court.

The State claimed that more than 20 companies were involved in the dodgy deal.

Investigations by the Hawks revealed that service providers in the R113 million tender scheme were hand-picked with zero procedure followed.

It has also been established that some of the accused are directors of the entities.

State prosecutor Prenishna Jagganath explained how some of the irregularities took place.

“Accused 17 is a director of Makhayeni Sint; he was paid a total of 4.5 million from the department,” she said.

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She said that during the course of the trial, the State will also reveal how the entities used were more than the number of those accused.

“When the State goes to trial with this, it will be 40 warm bodies, as I’ve indicated, and 69 corporate entities. These accused are sitting before you as service providers in their capacities as directors, and some of them will be personal capacities where they’ve received monies,” she said.

Another group of the accused is expected to apply for bail on Wednesday morning.