The African National Congress (ANC) has called on Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown to lay criminal charges against people implicated in the "looting" of Eskom.

This comes as Brown gave Eskom a 48-hour deadline to clarify its relationship with Trillian Capital Holdings, after it emerged that it lied about payments of more than R1.5-billion to the Gupta-linked Trillian firm and consultancy firm McKinsey.

“The revelations of possible lies or cover ups and 'cook(ed) books' to hide the illegal payment to Trillian is a serious allegation,” party spokesperson Zizi Kodwa told News24.

Kodwa said the power utility is an important asset to the country’s economy and corruption cannot be made the norm.

'Corruption must be the exception'

“(The) ANC calls on Minister Brown and government to make corruption an exception and not as a new normal in state-owned companies,“ Kodwa said.

On Monday the power utility’s head of legal Suzanne Daniels admitted that Eskom had lied about receiving the all clear from global consultancy Oliver Wyman over payments to Trillian.

It is understood it had faced pressure from the consultancy to come clean after Eskom claimed that the payments to Trillian were above board.

This followed the release of a damning report into Trillian by Advocate Geoff Budlender in June. He was appointed by the former chairperson of Trillian, Tokyo Sexwale, to investigate the company’s role in allegations of state capture by the politically connected Gupta family.

He released a report in June, and found that Eskom had paid Trillian R266-million for services without contracts in 2016.

Brown spokesperson Colin Cruywagen said on Tuesday that Brown had asked the Eskom board as far back as June to clarify its business with Trillian.

“Following further revelations of impropriety, she has instructed the board to table its report in 48 hours," he said.

The ANC has previously summoned Brown to Luthuli House, forcing her to rescind the reappointment of its now former CEO Brian Molefe.