Transnet forensic investigators confident of successful prosecutions

A firm that conducted forensic investigations into Transnet says there is a good chance of successful prosecution of those implicated in acts of wrongdoing.

According to Mncedisi Ndlovu, the Chairman of Mncedisi Ndlovu & Sedumedi (MNS) Attorneys, the firm is working with law enforcement agencies to recover funds misappropriated from Transnet, in what they described as grand scale corruption.

“Our mandate is to recover whatever money that has been lost to corruption back to Transnet,” said Ndlovu on the sidelines of the Zondo Commission into State Capture.

MNS Attorneys compiled six investigative reports into Transnet, looking into allegations of irregularities by the state-owned entity.

Ndlovu said that the firm, in some of its reports, recommend that criminal charges be laid against those fingered in wrongdoing because they were “convinced that the cases are prosecutable.”

Reports produced by the firm have revealed startling acts of maladministration in connection with multi-billion rand contracts undertaken by the state-owned logistics agency, including the procurement of 1 064 locomotives in 2012.

In 2018, a report produced by Alister Chabi and Robert Oketch of MNS Attorneys, showed former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe and ex-CFO Anoj Singh failed to exercise a duty of reasonable care and diligence relating to the locomotive deal.

Molefe and Singh recommended a business case to the board that exposed Transnet to paying about R15bn more for the locomotives than originally indicated when the tender rocketed from R38.6bn to R54bn, according to the report.

Ndlovu mentioned that their teams came across astonishing levels of coordinated disregard for procurement rules, but some employees were not aware of that they were being used in the state capture machinery.

“I am confident that at some point we will see some action,” said Ndlovu referring to legal proceedings.

Evidence led at the Zondo Commission has revealed that Gupta-linked advisory firm Homix earned R36m for virtually no work done in facilitating a deal between Neotel and Transnet.

Previous evidence before the inquiry revealed that Homix is a shell company nominated by Gupta business associate Salim Essa to receive facilitation fees from contracts to Transnet by various other companies.

Early this year, Transnet said it had issued summons to a number of former top executives it said were implicated in financial mismanagement. These included former CEOs Brian Molefe, Siyabonga Gama, Singh, and others.