Former Transnet executives Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama handed themselves over to police on Monday morning and are expected to appear in court later in the day.
Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama expected to post bail today
This comes after the Hawks, a specialised police unit focusing on organised crime and corruption, arrested them in connection with a fraudulent R93 million payment tied to a Transnet locomotive deal.
The two are facing serious charges that include fraud, corruption, and money laundering. These charges are connected to a deal from 2015, when Transnet, South Africa’s state-owned freight, rail, and logistics company, paid R93.4 million to Trillian Capital — a company linked to the Gupta family — for advisory services related to the financing of new locomotives.
Henry Mamothame, spokesperson for the Investigative Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC), confirmed their arrest and said both Molefe and Gama are expected in court today.
The Directorate is a special branch of the National Prosecuting Authority that investigates high-profile corruption cases.
Also facing charges in the same matter are several other former Transnet officials and businesspeople, including Anoj Singh and Garry Pita (both former Chief Financial Officers), former treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi, and individuals linked to Regiments Capital and Trillian, such as Niven Pillay, Litha Nyhonyha, Eric Wood, Daniel Roy, and Kuben Moodley.
What we know about the R93 million Transnet tender fraud
The case centres on a R93.4 million payment made to Trillian Capital in December 2015. The payment was part of a deal to provide financial advice for the purchase of 1 064 new locomotives, a large-scale project initially estimated at R38 billion but later ballooned to over R50 billion.
Originally, the advisory contract was awarded to the global bank JP Morgan in May 2015. However, that contract was cancelled and later re-assigned to Trillian Capital in October 2015. Just three days after Trillian received the money from Transnet, it transferred R74 million to a company called Albatime, owned by Kuben Moodley. According to investigators, there was no clear reason for this payment.
The Zondo Commission — a public inquiry into state capture — previously recommended that police investigate Molefe, Gama, and Singh for possible misconduct in this tender deal.
A separate forensic report from 2018 also found that Molefe had failed to inform then-public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba about the rising cost of the locomotive project, which was a requirement under state policy.
Molefe, now a Member of Parliament for former president Jacob Zuma’s MK party, and Gama are accused of knowingly approving payments that had no legal or financial basis.
OUTA (Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse), a civil society group that monitors public spending, welcomed the arrests.
“This is long overdue. Hopefully, this time around…the investigative directorate has done their homework and have their ducks in a row,” its CEO, Wayne Duvenage, said.