Inside Politics Reporter
The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) on Tuesday added former public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba as the fifth accused in a corruption case involving former Transnet executives, at the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court.
The case was postponed to 30 January for the disclosure of the docket, the provision of an indictment, and for a date to be set for the transfer of the matter to the high court.
IDAC issued Gigaba with a summons on 7 November to appear at the Palm Ridge court. He agreed to present himself, and his matter was combined with that of the other accused.
Gigaba’s court appearance relates to alleged offences between November 2010 and May 2014, during his tenure as minister of public enterprises.
He is charged alongside former Transnet group chief financial officer Anoj Singh, former group chief executive officer Brian Molefe, former Transnet chief executive officer Siyabonga Gama, and Thamsanqa Jiyane, who was chief procurement officer in the Transnet Freight Rail division.
The charges arise from the period in which Transnet embarked on acquiring locomotives to expand and modernise South Africa’s rail infrastructure. During this process, tender procedures were allegedly flouted and three contracts were irregularly awarded to supply 95, 100, and 1,064 locomotives under three different contracts, resulting in a loss of billions of rand for Transnet.
The state alleges that during his term as minister Gigaba, on various occasions, accepted and received undisclosed amounts of cash from members of the Gupta family, which are alleged to be corrupt in nature, and to which he was not entitled.
All the accused were presented with an updated charge sheet.
INSIDE POLITICS