Former Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama is expected to appear at the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court today, August 3, where he faces a raft of charges of fraud, corruption, and money laundering.
His court appearance coincides with that of several other former senior executives in relation to state capture but, according to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Gama will appear alone in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
His appearance is in relation to the R405 million Transnet Consultancy corruption case, and Gama is expected to provide feedback to the court after having had access to the state’s documents.
"His legal representative had also indicated that he might request the relaxation of his bail conditions," the NPA said.
Gama is one of several accused arrested concerning a 2012 to 2015 Transnet locomotives transaction advisory corruption case. He was earlier granted bail of R50 000.
The Hawks and the Investigating Directorate (ID) arrested Gama, former acting group CFO Garry Pita, former group treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi, Regiments shareholder Eric Wood, and Trillian Asset Management current director, Daniel Roy (Novum Asset Management), at the Brackendowns police station last year.
They are facing charges of contravening the Public Finance Management Act, fraud, corruption and money laundering.
Gama, Pita, and Roy were each granted bail of R50 000, while Wood and Ramosebudi were respectively granted bail of R250 000 and R25 000.
Businessman Kuben Moodley, accused of allegedly acting as a "fixer" for the Guptas, also previously appeared in the dock. He has been out on bail since his arrest in September 2021.
ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said earlier that the former executives are facing charges in relation to a double invoice of R93.4 million.
"In 2012, Transnet went on a 'request for proposal' tender to get transaction advisory services to secure funding for $2.5 billion (equivalent to R30 billion at the time) to fund the acquisition of the 1 064 locomotives deal.”
Transnet then appointed JB Morgan to provide advisory services in May 2015.
"In July-October 2015, the same officials in Transnet started facilitating the termination of the JB Morgan contract.
“The cancellation resulted in them appointing Trillian in October 2015. An invoice for R93.4m was submitted by Trillian through Daniel Roy, who served as a director at Trillian," Seboka said.
The invoice was approved by Pita and Gama, and payment was made on December 3, 2015, to Trillian's account.
"Three days after that, R74 million was paid to Albatime, owned by Kuben Moodley, for no apparent reason. Prior to that, payment by Transnet was made to Regiments for R189 million in June 2015 for the alleged same services," she added.
Seboka said state advocate Andrea Johnson was confident that the ID is on track to hold accountable people who had allegedly been at the center of, or had facilitated state capture.
