Johannesburg – The State Capture Inquiry has echoed that former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe, Eskom’s former acting CEO Colin Matjila, and Tony Gupta should face prosecution for their dodgy deals with the now-defunct, The New Age.
“Former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe should be prosecuted by the NPA for fraud and contravening the PFMA for his role in facilitating irregular contracts between Gupta-owned The New Age and the parastatal,” read the report.
In a released report, that was handed over to President Cyril Ramaphosa, the commission recommended legal action should be instituted against Matjila.
Furthermore, the State Capture Inquiry also noted that Molefe’s attempt to defend the irregular spending the state’s tons on adverts in The New Age was dismissed.
“From the above evidence, it is apparent that Mr Molefe and Mr Sigonyela were directly facilitating the use of public funds for TNA spending,” the report indicated.
Moreover, the report further recommended that the law enforcement agencies should investigate a possible crime of corruption against Mr Tony Gupta on the basis of (former SAA chief executive) Mr (Vuyisile) Kona’s evidence that he offered him initially R100 000.
Thereafter, he opted to give him half a million rand in their meeting at the Gupta’s compound, Saxonwold in October 2012.
On The New Age (TNA), the investigation conducted by the Commission has shown that contracts concluded between TNA and Transnet, Eskom and SAA were wasteful expenditure.
“The TNA investigation shows that state capture thrived at our country’s SOEs despite the fact that the necessary laws to prevent it were in place.
“The PFMA clearly and definitively made every one of the TNA contracts unlawful.
“One way to prevent this in the future is to ensure that those who ignored their legal obligations are held to account for their conduct,” the report highlighted.
The commission said that the ailing matters should therefore be handed over to law enforcement agencies for further investigation and, where warranted, prosecution.
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Read part one of the state capture report here
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