Special Tribunal has ordered Hamilton Ndlovu and company to repay R158 million in cash obtained through illegal PPE tenders.

The Special Tribunal has ordered Hamilton Ndlovu and his companies to repay at least R158 million in cash obtained through illegal and irregular PPE tenders.

Ndlovu received at least R172 million in PPE tenders from the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS).

Ndlovu’s properties and a trust account worth R42 million, as well as another R60 million in assets, were previously frozen last year and will be handed over to the state or auctioned to cover some of the R158 million owed to him.

Following a plea by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the NHLS to have those tenders set aside, the specialized court rendered down verdict on Tuesday afternoon.

Judge Lebogang Modiba, the President of the Special Tribunal, further ordered that Ndlovu be blacklisted from doing business with the government.

“Abuse of the public procurement system can only be effectively abated when the infracting parties are restricted from trading with the State. On the basis of the findings made against Hamilton Ndlovu [and] the companies he represents… the NHLS is urged to invoke section 15 of the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act and list these entities, their directors and shareholders on the database of restricted suppliers,” Modiba said.

Ndlovu has also been ordered to pay the legal costs of the SIU and the NHLS.

“The applicants should not be out of pocket as a result of the legal costs they incurred to preserve assets and to recover the losses to the State, as a result of the impugned transactions and payment.

“Given the abuse of corporate entities, tender fronting and fraud that has taken place, a punitive costs order is warranted against Hamilton Ndlovu and the companies he represents. He masterminded the fraudulent procurement scheme and [channelled] funds deriving from the impugned payments through these companies,” Modiba said.

Following an intensive investigation into the claims of corruption against Ndlovu, the Special Investigating Agency (SIU) spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago, said the corruption-busting unit welcomed the sentencing.

“[Ndlovu] was the controlling mind of all the front companies, and the direct and indirect beneficiary of the funds flowing to them from the payments made by the NHLS.

“The links and interrelationships between the front companies and the fact that they were all controlled by Mr. Ndlovu were not disclosed to the NHLS. The companies operated jointly as part of an unlawful scheme directed by Mr. Ndlovu and under the pretence that they were independent entities.

“Instead of operating at arm’s length and in competition with each other to supply PPE to the NHLS at the best available prices, the companies were a front whereby Mr. Ndlovu could obtain multiple contracts from the NHLS at excessive prices without revealing his involvement in each of them,” Kganyago said.