Blood on the tracks

Montana, who was unceremoniously removed as CEO of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, claims the parastatal stands to be defrauded of nearly R100-million, with the help of senior managers.

Prasa spokesman Sipho Sithole said he was not aware that Montana had opened a case against officials or board members of the agency.

Fraudulent Prasa service providers

In his submission to the police Montana claims that a Prasa service provider, whose name is known to The Times, was awarded a contract in 2012 to install fencing at all Prasa depots across the country. "There is a serious case against the company and it defrauded Prasa of millions," he said outside the police station. "I came here to formally lay a charge against them." Montana said the company had inflated invoices and claimed a further R31-million for lights it said were bought abroad.

His bid for a criminal charge against Molefe was informed by the company's donation to an event in Sun City organised by the Prasa chairman. This constituted a conflict of interest, said Montana.

Questionable decisions made by Molefe

He said that since his forced removal last week, a Prasa executive whom he had suspended for fraudulently paying the security company R58-million had been reinstated by Molefe."It is not in the public's interest to reinstate the executive, the board is not acting in the interest of the public. But what do you expect when the chairman of the board, Molefe, got a donation from the same company under a cloud," Montana said.

"It remains quite unbelievable that Prasa has quickly moved to reinstate executive Ngoye who still has serious charges against her. One would have expected the internal disciplinary process against her to be completed and only if exonerated, she be reinstated but if proven guilty, she be criminally charged for flouting the Public Finance and Management Act.

Montana has been particularly critical of Molefe, accusing him of interfering with operations at the agency. Last week, Molefe claimed his life was under threat and that a meeting of the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe military veterans had allegedly classified him as an obstacle.

Prasa has also acted against its chief engineer, Daniel Mthimkhulu, for having misrepresented his qualifications. It has opened a case of fraud against him and is demanding that he pay back the money he earned over four years as chief engineer. Montana said yesterday he hoped Prasa would pursue the alleged fraudulent contract with the same vigour as it had Mtimkhulu. "As a matter of principle, I believe Prasa should, with the same zeal it is taking on the Mthimkhulu issue, pursue the fraud and corruption case involving the service provider, which is overseen by the chairman Molefe and his supporters.

Last night, police said they would not comment until the case was on their books.

Source: The Times