The five former Transnet officials who were arrested on Friday morning have been granted bail at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court.
The accused were arrested by the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate on charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering.
The five accused are former group CEO of Transnet Siyabonga Gama, former acting group chief financial officer Garry Pita, ex-group treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi, Regiments’ Eric Wood, and Trillian Asset Management director Daniel Roy and ‘Gupta fixer’ Kuben Moodley.
Kuben Moodley was arrested in September last year and is out on bail.
Prosecutor Advocate Thembela Bakamela said the state is not opposing bail.
He suggested that the matter be postponed to 13 July 2022.
Wood was granted R250 000 bail, Ramosebudi R25 000, while Gama, Roy and Pita were granted R50 000 bail respectively.
Investigating Directorate National Spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said in a statement the accused stand accused of contravention of the PFMA.
The statement explains that in 2012 Transnet went on a Request for Proposal tender to get transaction advisory services to secure funding for $2.5 billion (equivalent of R30 billion at the time) to fund the acquisition of the 1064 locomotives deal.
Later in May 2015 Transnet had appointed JB Morgan for advisory services.
“In July – October 2015 the same officials in Transnet started facilitating the termination of the JB Morgan contract. A cancellation resulted in them appointing Trillian in October 2015.
“An invoice of R93.4 million was submitted by Trillian through Daniel Roy, who served as a director to Trillian. The invoice was approved by Pita and Gama, and payment was made on 03 December 2015 to Trillian’s account. Three days after that, R74 million was paid to Albatime, owned by Kuben Moodley, for no apparent reason.
“Prior to that, payment by Transnet was made to Regiments for R189 million in June 2015 for the alleged same services,” reads the statement.
The ID said this was the second seminal matter enrolled this week and that more can be expected within six months.
Also Read: Five former Transnet senior executives arrested
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