The fraud, corruption and money laundering case against five accused – including former Transnet Group chief executive Siyabonga Gama – in relation to corruption at Transnet has been postponed to August in the Palm Ridge Specialised Crimes Court.
The case relates to corruption involving some R93 million during the purchase of at least 1 064 locomotives. They also face a charge of contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
The accused in the matter are Gama; former Transnet acting group chief financial officer, Garry Pita; former group treasurer, Phetolo Ramosebudi; Regiments shareholder, Eric Wood; Trillian Asset Management and current director, Daniel Roy (Novum Asset Management); and owner of Albatime, Kuben Moodley.
Following their arrest in May, National Prosecuting Authority Investigating Directorate (NPA ID) spokesperson, Sindisiwe Seboka, explained that the case related to Transnet’s 2012 request for a proposal tender for “transaction advisory services to secure funding for $2.5 billion to fund the acquisition” of the locomotives.
“In May 2015, Transnet appointed JP Morgan for advisory services. In July-October 2015, the same officials in Transnet started facilitating the termination of the JP Morgan contract. This cancellation resulted in them appointing Trillian in October 2015.
“An invoice of R93.4m was submitted by Trillian through [Trillian director] Roy. The invoice was approved by Pita and Gama, and payment was made on December 3, 2015 to Trillian’s account. Three days after that, R74m was paid to Albatime, owned by Kuben Moodley, for no apparent reason.
“Prior to that, payment by Transnet was made to Regiments for R189m in June 2015 for the alleged same services,” Seboka said. – SAnews.gov.za
