'Eskom irregularly paid R659 million to Gupta-owned Tegeta'

Snehal Nagar, a senior in the finance department, appeared before the commission on Tuesday.

Nagar said he received a phone call in April 2016 from the office of the power utility's former chief financial officer, Anoj Singh, to execute the payment within an hour or two.

He admitted that it was not the way in which things were done at Eskom, especially for payment of this nature.

Evidence leader Philip Mokoena: "It is not as if you were expecting to get goods immediately, this was an advanced payment for coal which was to delivered sometime in the future. Why was the payment so urgent?"

Nagar: "Chair, on the phone call I got, there was no discussion on the details of the payment. It was only about the fact that there needs to be a payment and we will send the documents later."

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He said this was unusual because the team always made payments on pre-existing contracts and for goods and services that had already been delivered to the power utility.

Nagar confirmed the coal was never delivered.

Mokoena asked him why they affected the payment knowing the transaction did not follow the correct procedures.

"We were not privy to the context of the contract, but it was approved by the board tender committee and the instruction came from the CFO's office which is one of the highest offices of Eskom. Yes, I accept that the incorrect process was followed, but before we did it, we sought approval for that as well," said Nagar.

He added that ignoring the instruction would have amounted to insubordination.

Nagar made reference to an alleged incident where an Eskom employee crossed the decision of former executive Matshela Koko was suspended.

Tegeta was reportedly trying to purchase Optimum Coal Mine, which was owned by Glencore, at an amount of R600 million.