A P272 million government infrastructure contract is at the centre of an alleged fraud scheme involving Zac Construction, Thiite Rubble Screeners and several individuals accused of manipulating the tender process, inflating payments and moving millions of pula through company bank accounts.
A charge sheet filed before the Regional Magistrate Court alleges that former Member of Parliament Johane Luther-Tine Thiite, his company Thiite Rubble Screeners (Pty) Ltd, Nicolas Zakhem and Zac Construction (Pty) Ltd obtained P272,378,310.96 from the Central District Council through false representations relating to the Tutume Infrastructure Project.
The alleged offences occurred between September 2017 and August 2020 under Tender No. CDC/RDS/16/2016, which was funded through the government’s Economic Stimulus Programme.
According to the charge sheet, the accused allegedly secured the contract using references purporting to show that they had previously undertaken work for China State Construction & Engineering Corporation. The State alleges that the references were forged and that the purported work had never been performed.
The charge sheet states that the references “were forged documents” and that the accused “had never done the purported work” for the Chinese construction company.
Investigators further allege that a letter purporting to guarantee a performance bond and advance payment was falsely presented as an authentic Banc ABC document. The prosecution alleges that the bank had neither authorised the letter nor intended to provide the promised guarantees.
The tender’s citizen-ownership requirement is another key element of the case. Prosecutors allege that Thiite Rubble Screeners was presented as the qualifying citizen-owned company, when it was “merely fronting for Zac Construction”, which was allegedly ineligible because it was not citizen-owned.
The State alleges that these representations induced the council to award the contract to Thiite Rubble Screeners and release payments totalling millions of pula.
Inflated payment certificate
The prosecution further alleges that the project was used to obtain additional money through an inflated interim payment certificate.
In May 2018, the accused companies and individuals allegedly manipulated Interim Payment Certificate No. 6, increasing the amount payable from P8,733,442.66 to P14,009,666.20.
The difference of P5,276,223.54 is identified in the charge sheet as the financial prejudice allegedly suffered by the government. The State alleges that the inflated certificate resulted in the council paying the higher amount to Thiite Rubble Screeners, benefiting companies and individuals linked to the project.
The charge sheet also alleges that Tumelo Johane Mbaiwa, identified as a resident engineer on the project through Haas Consult RSA, received P30,000 from Zakhem and Zac Construction as a reward for inflating the certificate.
The alleged payment forms part of separate corruption charges against the engineer and the alleged payers.
Alleged bribes and money laundering
The prosecution further alleges that payments were made to influence the award and supervision of the project.
According to the charge sheet, Zakhem and Zac Construction allegedly paid P100,000 to Portia Tebogo Gilika, a manager associated with Haas Consult, on September 13, 2017, as a reward for favouring and recommending Thiite Rubble Screeners for the tender.
A separate count alleges that Haas Consult RSA (Pty) Ltd and another person accepted P250,000 on October 23, 2017, for favourably evaluating and recommending the company for the contract.
The State alleges that these payments helped secure the tender for Thiite Rubble Screeners, benefiting the companies and individuals involved.
The prosecution has also brought money-laundering charges relating to transactions allegedly involving proceeds of the tender fraud.
The charge sheet identifies a P6 million transfer into a First Capital Bank account held by Zac Construction, a further P3.74 million transfer into a Stanbic Bank account held by Khwee (Pty) Ltd, and a P1 million transfer into an account identified in the document as belonging to Zac Construction.
The State alleges that the transactions involved proceeds of the offence of obtaining money by false pretences.
