- Nelson Mandela Bay municipality officials are accused of participating in a scheme that involved the fraudulent payment of R26 million to service providers.
- The payments were allegedly made after the metro awarded a company a tender for an environmental impact assessment.
- The Hawks say even interns who had expired municipal contracts were paid as part of the tender.
Five former Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) municipal employees and three company directors are expected to appear in the New Law Court on Thursday in connection with charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering.
The accused, who were arrested early on Thursday morning, include the former director of the NMB public health directorate, a project manager, an executive director, an intern and an administration clerk.
It is alleged that they played a role in a scheme that defrauded the municipality out of R26 million through 43 transactions in 2014 for the payment of services that were never rendered in terms of a tender.
According to the Hawks, the metro's public health directorate awarded the tender to Milongani Eco Consulting CC for an environmental impact assessment and the contract was for three years until July 2017.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said the tariff rate was said to have been R350 per hour.
Within 24 hours of signing the contract, an invoice of R1 million was immediately submitted and paid by the municipality.
Mgolodela said companies that did not get the tender were also paid and that interns who had expired municipal contracts were also paid.
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Provincial Hawks head Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya commended the Eastern Cape's Serious Corruption Investigation team for the arrests.
He said the funds that were allegedly stolen from the municipality could have been used to curb the unemployment rate through the establishment of food projects for underprivileged people.
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