The Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Palm Ridge has sentenced the former Passenger Rail Agency South Africa (PRASA) employee, Daniel Mtimkulu (49) to 15 years imprisonment.
Mtimkhulu was accused of fabricating and misrepresenting his qualifications to secure a position at PRASA. He was arrested in July 2015 and charged with nine counts of fraud, uttering, and forgery.
“As a result of the misrepresentation and fabricated 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 to the tune of R2.8 million,” said the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, the Hawks, on Tuesday.
“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,” added the Hawks.
The 49-year-old allegedly claimed to have obtained a Masters’ degree from the University of Witwatersrand and a Doctorate in Engineering Management from the Technische Universitat Munchen (Munich Technical University) in Germany.
On Tuesday, the court sentenced Mtimkulu to 15 years in prison on count 1. On counts 4 and 8, the court sentenced him to six years imprisonment, to be served concurrently with the 15 year sentence.
Earlier this year, on March 15, 2024, the Johannesburg High Court attached both immovable and moveable properties belonging to the convict in accordance with the confiscation order under Section 18 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. The Court also ordered Mtimkulu to pay Prasa R5.8 million in restitution for criminal proceeds.
The National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya, welcomed the sentencing and applauded the hard work and efforts of the investigation and prosecution teams.
“This should serve as a lesson to would be fraudsters that crime doesn’t pay”, said Lt Gen Lebeya.
