Liesel Maria Wolmarans was a senior billing clerk at embattled power utility Eskom between March 2011 and May 2021. The spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said that Wolmarans was responsible for processing electricity meter readings on the billing system. Wolmarans received the readings electronically from route contractors who captured them at customer sites on hand-held devices. She then had to bill customers for their electricity usage based on the meter readings.

“Wolmarans was however alleged to have made a misrepresentation to Eskom in that she unlawfully and intentionally processed false readings on the billing system for which the customers were billed for lower electricity usage. “The matter was reported to the Hawks for probing hence the arrest of Wolmarans on July 29. The investigations revealed that Wolmarans prejudiced Eskom cash to the value of more than R11m,” said Captain Mgolodela.

Wolmarans appeared before the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday, 29 July. This followed her arrest by the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation team. The former Eskom employee was released on bail of R2 000 while her case was remanded to 30 August, reports TimesLIVE.