Four former employees of two multinational engineering firms awarded R2.2bn contracts for Eskom's Kusile power plant in 2015 were arrested by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and Asset Forfeiture Unit on Tuesday.

The former employees of Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) and Impulse International were arrested in Durban and Emalahleni (Witbank), Mpumalanga.

ABB was awarded a R2.2bn control and instrumentation contract for Eskom's Kusile plant in 2015, and subsequently awarded Impulse International R800m in work — though Impulse failed ABB's tests for a subcontractor.

In 2019 the Sunday Times reported that former Eskom boss Matshela Koko allegedly guaranteed ABB R6.5bn in future contracts if it subcontracted work on the Kusile power station to Impulse International, a company part-owned by his stepdaughter.

Explosive details of how Koko allegedly facilitated the looting of millions of rand from Kusile in cahoots with Swiss-based firm ABB were exposed in reports provided to the SIU.

The company is one of 11 international engineering giants being investigated by the SIU for their role in the looting of about R139bn to build power stations.

They will appear in the Durban and Palm Ridge specialised commercial crimes courts on Tuesday.

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