South Africa targets coal-smuggling syndicate across five provinces

The South African Revenue Service and other government agencies said they disrupted a coal smuggling syndicate operating across five of the country’s nine provinces.

The search-and-seizure operation targeted former employees of state power utility Eskom Holdings. “who facilitated procurement fraud,” the agencies said in a statement on Thursday.

High-grade coal being trucked to Eskom power plants is diverted to private coal yards where it is replaced with lower quality coal, the agencies said, adding the high-grade coal is then exported. The suspects defrauded the tax collector of more than R500 million, they said.

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