Page 17 - DMEA Week 26

DMEA FUELS DMEA

South African court scraps

dodgy fuel tender

SOUTH AFRICA THE North Gauteng high court in Preto- judicial review of the contest was unnecessary,
ria on July 1 cancelled a controversial tender hiring EY to carry out a forensic investigation.
One of the three for fuel supplies to the city after identifying But the court said there no purpose in delaying a
companies that won the irregularities. rule until EY had finished its work.
tender funnelled cash One of the three companies that won the The tender documents asked companies to
into acconts linked to tender in January last year funnelled cash into provide quotes for six types of fuel, even though
local politicans. accounts linked to the head of Economic Free- Pretoria needs only two. BBT charged low prices
dom Fighters (EFF), Julius Malema, and the for the four unneeded grades but high prices for
political party’s secretary-general, Marshall the other two. City authorities then added up the
Dlamini, according to an investigation published prices and concluded that BBT had the strongest
last year by amaBhungane. bid – a process that Windell said was “irrational
Judge Windell ordered the tender to be can- and procedurally unfair.”
celled after a case was launched by a company The city then overpaid for the fuel it did
called Q Tique 27, which took part in the contest receive, which the court said was owing to an
but said it did not know there had been award administrative error. Once again, the overpay-
until amaBhungane’s report. ments stopped when amaBhungane’s report was
The tender resulted in contracts being signed published.
with Balimi Barui Trading (BBT), Rheinland The judge found that BBT’s director, Hendrik
Investments and MDZ Fleet Solutions. BBT, Kganyago, was related to a senior official in the
which held an existing fuel contract with the city’s fleet division, Stanley Kganyago.
city, paid ZAR15mn ($880,000) to companies “The less I say about the relationship between
tied to Malema and Dlamini between mid-2018, Mr Hendrick Kganyago and Stanley Kganyago
when the tender was first advertised, right up to at this stage the better,” he said, noting that the
when amaBhungane’s investigation came out in forensic investigation by EY could lead to cor-
September. ruption charges.
Pretoria, otherwise known as Tshwane, over- In its report, amaBhungane said the EFF had
paid for fuels by ZAR10.6mn as a result of the “kingmaker” status thanks to its seats on the city
scandal, the court said. The city tried to claim a council. ™

US files lawsuit to seize Iranian

gasoline

VENEZUELA US prosecutors have filed a lawsuit to seize the for the District of Columbia, also aims to stop
gasoline aboard four Iranian tankers heading to the flow of revenues from petroleum sales to
Iran has already Venezuela. Iran, which Washington has sanctioned over its
successfuly sent one Iran has already successfully sent one flotilla nuclear programme, ballistic missiles and influ-
flotilla of fuel-laden of fuel-laden tankers to assist the government ence across the Middle East, Reuters reported.
tankers to Venezuela. of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, like Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peace-
Tehran under heavy pressure from US sanctions. ful purposes.
Gasoline shortages in Venezuela, like Iran a Zia Faruqui and two other assistant US attor-
member of OPEC, have grown acute due to the neys allege that Iranian businessman Mahmoud
sanctions, with the country enduring an economic Madanipour helped arrange the shipments by
collapse as the US tries to force Maduro out. changing documents about the tankers to evade
In the civil-forfeiture complaint, the US fed- US sanctions.
eral prosecutors aim to stop delivery of Iranian The lawsuit reportedly states that since Sep-
gasoline aboard the Liberia-flagged Bella and the tember 2018 Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Bering, and the Pandi and the Luna, according to Corps’ (IRGC’s) elite Quds Force has moved oil
the lawsuit, first reported in the Wall Street Jour- through a sanctioned shipping network involv-
nal. It also seeks to deter future deliveries. ing dozens of ship managers, vessels and facil-
The complaint, filed in the US District Court itators. ™

Week 26 02•July•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P17