SABC News, South Africa
June 3, 2003

Jacobus Michiel du Plooy, a South African citizen of Ficksburg in the Free State, pleaded guilty in the Lesotho High Court today to bribery totalling more than $ 1 million related to the Lesotho highlands water project. Judge Tseliso Monaphaphi sitting with two assessors accepted Du Plooy’s plea and postponed the case to July 22 for argument in mitigation of sentence.

Du Plooy acted as an intermediary to make payments totalling $ 1,264-million to Masupha Sole, the former chief executive of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority. According to the indictment, the money was deposited into Du Plooy’s Swiss bank account between February 1991 and May 1993. Du Plooy transferred at least $ 375,000 to Sole to secure a lucrative contract for the construction of the giant Katse Dam, which supplies water to South Africa.

Sole is currently serving a 15 years imprisonment term for accepting bribes totalling more than $ 1-million over a period of six years from several international consultants and contractors. – Sapa

Indictment