South African Railway official jailed for faux Engineering credentials

A former prime official at South Africa’s state-owned passenger railway firm acquired a 15-year concurrent jail sentence on Tuesday for faking his engineering {qualifications} and different instances of fraud.

Daniel Mtimkulu, 49, resigned as the top of engineering on the Passenger Rail Company of South Africa, or PRASA, shortly earlier than he was arrested in 2015.

He was convicted of three counts of fraud and forgery in 2022 over faux college {qualifications} and a cast job supply from a rival firm that resulted in executives at PRASA practically doubling his wage to maintain him.

Mtimkulu was sentenced to fifteen years for the primary rely of fraud and 6 years in jail for every of the opposite two counts. A choose on the particular industrial crimes courtroom in Johannesburg ordered that the sentences be served concurrently.

As PRASA’s head of engineering, Mtimkulu was behind a deal value greater than $100 million to purchase dozens of latest practice locomotives from Spain, which have been then discovered to be too tall for South Africa’s rail community and couldn’t be used.

The large-money contract was considered one of a number of at PRASA which were linked with alleged bribes and kickbacks.

Investigators have mentioned there was rampant corruption and mismanagement at a few of South Africa’s largest state-owned companies between 2009 and 2018. A report final week by a particular unit that’s investigating high-level corruption mentioned that greater than $7 billion could have been misplaced to graft at a few of these state-owned corporations, together with PRASA.

Mtimkulu claimed to have a grasp’s diploma from a college in South Africa and a doctorate in engineering administration from a college in Germany, neither of which have been true. He additionally faked a job supply from a German firm that resulted in his wage being elevated from round $90,000 a 12 months to $155,000 a 12 months.

The choose ordered him to pay again $323,000 to PRASA, which police mentioned have been the proceeds of crime.