Four former Nelson Mandela Bay municipal officers, three company direct¬ors and three jurist¬ic persons have been granted bail by the Gqe¬berha New Law Court after appearing on allegations of fraud, corruption and money laundering.

The group was arrested by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) for their alleged role in the irregular awarding of a public health tender in the municipality.

“In 2014, the Nelson Mandela Bay metro’s Public Health Directorate awarded a tender to Milongani Eco Consult¬ing CC to do environ¬mental impact assess¬ment. The contract is reported to have been for a duration of three years expi¬ring in July 2017,” said Hawks spokesperson Captain Yolisa Mgolo¬dela on Tuesday.

She said the tariff rate was R350 per hour.

“Fur¬ther allegations are that, within 24 hou¬rs of signing the co¬ntract, an invoice of R1 million was imme¬diately submitted and paid by the muni¬cipality.

“It is also reported that other numerous payments were made for services that were never re¬ndered thus prejudic¬ing the municipality cash of R26 millio¬n. It is further all¬eged that even inter¬ns within the munici¬pality with expired contracts were also paid out of this contract,” she said.

Mgolodela said the suspects were released on bail on Thursday. Bail ranged fromR1000 to R20 000 depending on varying circumstances. The matter was rem¬anded to 28 January 2022.

Source: South African Government News Agency