Former Passenger Rail Agency South Africa (PRASA) engineering head Daniel Mthimkulu has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars for fraud. Mthimkulu was convicted last year by the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on nine charges, including fraud and forgery.

FAKE QUALIFICATIONS

Mtimkhulu misrepresented his qualifications to Prasa, claiming among others, to have a Masters degree from the University of Witwatersrand and a doctorate in engineering management from the Technische Universitat München (Munich Technical University) in Germany. Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said as a result of Mtimkulu's misrepresentation and fabrication of his CV, Prasa suffered prejudice in that his annual salary was unduly hiked from R1.6 million as executive manager to heading the engineering services for a salary of R2.8 million. Mtimkulu resigned from the agency in 2012 after being suspended over the fake qualification allegations. Mtimkulu denied the allegations at the time.

HIS PROPERTIES ATTACHED

Earlier this year, the Hawks' Serious Economic Offences Unit of the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation attached Mthimkhulu's properties, both immovable and movable in terms of the Confiscation Order of Section 18 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. "The Court has further ordered that Mthimkhulu pay an amount of R5.8 million to Prasa to recoup the proceeds of crime," Mogale said. "The court today sentenced Mthimkulu to 15 years imprisonment in count 1, six years on counts 4 and 8. The sentences are to be served concurrently with 15 years imprisonment. This is one of the state capture cases that has been finalised, and the public can be assured that other state capture cases on the DPCI table will be dealt with amicably," Mogale added.