Ex-senior employees accused of defrauding state laboratory of R93 million

An elaborate R93 million scheme to defraud the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) was allegedly orchestrated by three of its former senior managers, who worked in tandem with a convicted fraudster.

The State made these allegations against Thuso Motsepe, the former supply chain manager; Mthunzi Mthimkhulu, the former facilities manager; and Sibusiso Mthenjana, who was the head of the state entity's legal department.

The three former NHLS managers appeared in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court, sitting in Palmridge, Ekurhuleni, on Tuesday, on charges of tender fraud and corruption involving R93.7 million. It also emerged that Mthimkhulu, who is the third accused in the fraud case, was also facing another theft matter for allegedly stealing 17 cars belonging to the state entity.

Mthimkhulu’s lawyer, Macbeth Ncongwane, told the court he was not sure whether those theft charges “would ever see the light of day”, as the State kept withdrawing and reinstating them at a whim. The accused allegedly worked in tandem with re-arrested fugitive Pierre Kapia Petersen to fraudulently approve a lucrative tender in 2016 to supply the NHLS with the “provision, maintenance and support of end-user computer hardware for a period of three years”.

These included desktops, laptops and associated peripheral devices, on-site labour and repairs. Petersen is the managing director of Blue Future, the company at the centre of the alleged corruption that received the tender. The charge sheet, submitted to the court by senior State advocate Richard Chabalala, said: “The contract was awarded to Blue Future on the strength of fraudulent letters of reference submitted by (Petersen) in support of Blue Future’s bid.”

The tender was awarded to Blue Future on the basis of as-and-when required. Chabalala alleged that the three former managers of the state entity facilitated payments to Blue Future with no authority “to conclude any binding contract on behalf of the NHLS”. Petersen was already in custody, after having first been arrested in 2017. He, however, skipped bail in September 2017 and was only re-arrested about two months ago after evading law-enforcement officials for more than two years.

It emerged in court last month that while he was a fugitive, Petersen was still conducting “legitimate” business with Eskom through installing and maintaining access-control systems at Kusile and Komati power stations in Mpumalanga. Eskom confirmed to The Star that Petersen’s company had two contracts with the parastatal, with a combined value of R7.8 million.

Petersen also has 17 previous fraud-and-theft related convictions, which emerged last month in court. All the accused indicated to the court that they were innocent of the charges against them. Motsepe, who is the second accused, and Mthenjana, the fourth, were released on bail of R20000 each. Mthimkhulu and Petersen remain in custody.