The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) faces a litmus test in a high-profile R400m Transnet fraud and corruption case for which it has lined up nearly 80 witnesses.
The R405m case involving 15 accused including former Transnet executives Brian Molefe, Anoj Singh and Siyabonga Gama was this week transferred to the high court in Johannesburg. Trial dates are expected to be set next month.
Other accused include Regiments Capital directors Niven Pillay and Litha Nyhonyha, former Transnet acting CFO Garry Pita, former group treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi, Regiments shareholder Eric Wood and his employee Daniel Roy, and Kuben Moodley, owner of Albatime.
Also on the charge sheet are Regiments Capital itself, its offshoot Trillian Asset Management, Trillian Capital Partners and McKinsey & Co. The accused face a combined 70 counts, including fraud, corruption and numerous counts under the Public Finance Management Act.
Llewelyn Curlewis, a senior law lecturer at the University of Pretoria, described the case as a “make-or-break situation” for the NPA, which suffered setbacks in the R24m Nulane case in Bloemfontein and the R2.2bn Kusile fraud and corruption matter involving former Eskom boss Matshela Koko, struck off the roll last year.
Everyone will lose their faith in the NPA if this one also ends with a blunder like the previous two cases
— Llewelyn Curlewis, senior law lecturer at the University of Pretoria
“Everyone will lose their faith in the NPA if this one also ends with a blunder like the previous two cases,” Curlewis said.
Another state capture case, the Estina dairy farm matter involving former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane, is set down for trial in August and September in the Bloemfontein high court.
The R24m Nulane fraud and corruption case involving businessman Iqbal Sharma centred on a feasibility study related to the Estina project. It ended with discharges for the accused, with the judge condemning the investigation as “lackadaisical”. The NPA is appealing the matter.
“It is trite that a criminal case is only as good as the admissible evidence available in the docket,” Curlewis said. “The NPA would be wise to appoint its most senior prosecutors to conduct the trial on its behalf and to ensure all possible legal angles are covered.”
TimesLIVE Premium has seen the 75-page indictment, signed by Investigating Directorate advocate Andrea Johnson in December, which lists 76 witnesses.
The charges arise from a transaction advisory tender awarded to a McKinsey-led consortium in 2012, which was a precursor to the procurement two years later of 1,064 locomotives worth in excess of R54bn.
They also relate to millions of rand that Transnet paid Trillian for organising a R30bn club loan to help buy the 1,064 locomotives; this was allegedly a double payment as Transnet had already paid Regiments Capital, where Wood was also a director, for the work.
Trillian allegedly did nothing to earn the fee but invoiced Transnet and still got paid R93.4m for work it allegedly had not done.
Meanwhile, Singh, who recently lodged an application for relaxed bail conditions to enable him to take up a CEO job in Dubai, has had that application rejected. Delivering his ruling on Friday, magistrate Emmanuel Magampa said no evidence was provided by Singh that he could not secure a job in South Africa.
“The concern is with the sketchy details of the proposed employment. In the absence of a contract of employment, one cannot determine how much [Singh] will earn, what is his leave provisioning and what impact that will have on his commitment to attend the trial that will definitely run over a long period of time,” added Magampa.
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