Former Prasa employee sentenced to 15 years in prison

A former Passenger Rail Agency South Africa (Prasa) employee, who was convicted in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Monday, has been sentenced by the same court today.

Daniel Mthimkhulu was charged with nine counts including fraud, uttering and forgery by allegedly misrepresenting his qualifications to Prasa upon his arrest in July 2015. He claimed, among other things, to have acquired a Masters’ degree from the University of Witwatersrand, as well as a Doctorate in Engineering Management from the Technische Universitat Munchen (Munich Technical University) in Germany.

“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.

The Hawks’ Serious Economic Offences Unit of the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation was instrumental in ensuring that Mtimkulu was ultimately convicted. The Johannesburg High Court had on Friday, 15 March 2024, attached both immovable and movable properties belonging to the convict in terms of the confiscation order of section 18 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. 

The court further ordered that Mthimkhulu pay an amount of R5.8 million to Prasa to recoup the proceeds of crime.The court on Tuesday sentenced Mtimkulu to 15 years imprisonment on count 1 and on count 4 and 8, the court sentences him to six years imprisonment 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,” said the unit. The National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya welcomed the sentence 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,” reiterated Lt Gen Lebeya.