JOHANNESBURG – The Gauteng Local Division of the High Court, Johannesburg, has reserved judgment in the application seeking to strike the multimillion-rand Transnet locomotive fraud and corruption case off the roll. The accused in the matter brought the Section 342A application seeking to strike the case off the roll owing to delays in the criminal trial.
They are former Transnet executives Brian Molefe, Anoj Singh, Siyabonga Gama, Garry Pita and Phetolo Ramosebudi, as well as Regiments Capital directors Niven Pillay and Litha Nyhonhya, Trillian Asset Management director Daniel Roy (Novum Asset Management), and Kuben Moodley, owner of Albatime (Pty) Ltd.
Henry Mamothame, spokesperson for the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC), said that the court is expected to deliver its ruling on 26 November. He said that during the proceedings on Wednesday, the State outlined proposed arrangements to facilitate the accused’s access to the electronic disclosure data required to prepare for trial. “However, the software experts from the defence submitted opposing views, leading to a decision by the judge to postpone for judgment on the application,” said Mamothame.
The accused are facing charges including contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), fraud, corruption and money laundering. “The accused also face charges related to the R93.4 million payment to Trillian Asset Management in 2015,” said Mamothame.
The case stems from the locomotive transaction advisory tender awarded to the McKinsey-led consortium in 2012. “It resulted in the procurement of 1 064 locomotives valued at over R54 billion. Regiments Capital was allegedly irregularly brought into the contract and benefited from Transnet’s irregular appointment, increasing the contract’s value and scope to over R305 million,” he said.
Mamothame said their services included sourcing the China Development Bank loan and the Club loan, amounting to $2.5 billion, equivalent to R30 billion at the time, on behalf of Transnet.
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Molefe served a chief executive officer of Transnet and later Eskom from April 2015 to November 2016. Singh served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Transnet and joined Molefe to Eskom, where he held the same position from 2015 until his resignation in January 2018.
These five former Transnet executives were arrested in distinct phases by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Investigating Directorate and the Hawks in 2022.
