Former Minister of Public Enterprises Malusi Gigaba appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court yesterday where he is facing a charge of corruption linked to the multibillion-rand locomotive tender case involving former Transnet executives.
This was after the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) formally added Gigaba as the fifth accused in the matter and issued him with a summons to appear in court earlier this month.
IDAC spokesperson Henry Mamothame said Gigaba’s court appearance related to the period between November 2010 and May 2014, when the alleged offences involving Transnet were committed during his tenure as the minister. He faces charges together with Anoj Singh, former Group CFO; Brian Molefe, former Group CEO of Transnet; Siyabonga Gama, former CEO; and Thamsanqa Jiyane, who was the Chief Procurement Officer in the Transport Freight Rail division within Transnet.
“The accused’s court appearance emanates from the period in which Transnet engaged in the process of acquiring locomotives to expand and modernise the country’s rail infrastructure, during which the tender processes were flouted and three contracts were irregularly awarded to provide Transnet with 95, 100 and 1 064 locomotives in three different contracts, resulting in a loss of billions of rands for Transnet,” said Mamothame.
“The state alleges that, during the period that Dr Gigaba was the Minister of DPE, he on various occasions allegedly accepted and received undisclosed amounts of cash from members of the Gupta family which are corrupt in nature, and which he was not entitled to.”
In court on Tuesday all the accused were presented with an updated charge sheet.
The matter was postponed to January 30 for the disclosure of the docket, as well as the provision of an indictment and a date for the transfer of the case to the High Court.
Molefe, Singh, Gama, and Jiyane were each granted R50 000 bail when they surrendered to the police in July. Gigaba was released on warning.
