‘State bowed to public pressure in arresting accused,’ argue defence counsel in case against Molefe

Defence counsel in the fraud and corruption case against Brain Molefe, Anoj Singh, Siyabonga Gama, several former Transnet executives and others have accused the state of bowing to public pressure to arrest their clients who appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court yesterday.

They also accused the state of providing the accused with a draft indictment not signed by the director of public prosecutions (DPP). The accused appeared in court yesterday on corruption charges related to the parastatal’s procurement of 1 064 locomotives in 2015.

The locomotives were worth more than R54 billion. They are charged with the contravention of the Public Finance Management Act fraud, corruption and money laundering. The charges stem from an advisory tender awarded to the McKinsey-led consortium in 2012.

The accused also face charges linked to the R93.4 million paid to Trillian Asset Management in 2015. Advocate Danie Dorfling for Regiments director Litha Nyhonhya said the state had brought to court a Putco bus without a driver.

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“When we read in the media, there is a lot of public expectation for people to be brought to book. We also know that the National Director of Public Prosecutions is on record intent on setting down a number of seminal cases before the end of September,” said Dorfling.

“This happens to be the most seminal case.” He said the state was on record saying a final charge sheet as well as the full disclosure of the docket would be provided to the defence some time before yesterday.

“It is clear the state committed itself to having this case before the court at a time when it was not ready to do so,” said Dorfling.

“We have had a draft indictment for more than a year and every time an accused is added, one or two paragraphs are amended and we have a new final draft. The matter is not ready to go to trial.”

Advocate Piet Du Plessis for Kubentheran Moodley said the so-called draft indictment they got from the state did not amount to anything if the state could not assure them that they have finalised their investigation.

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State prosecutor advocate Thembela Bakamela said the state had started to disclose the docket and some of the defence counsels had started receiving it.

“Some are yet to receive it; we have made arrangements with them because we are disclosing it electronically to save time.”

“We provided the draft charge sheet, the last sitting we committed that we would provide a charge sheet,” said Investigating Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka.

The matter was postponed to 30 November.

In the dock

• Former Eskom and Transnet CEO Brian Molefe;
• Albatime Pty Ltd owner Kubentheran Moodley;
• Former Group Chief Executive of Transnet Siyabonga Gama;
• Trillian Capital director Eric Anthony Wood;
• Former acting CFO Garry Pita;
• Cofounder of Trillian, Daniel Roy;
• Former Transnet group treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi;
• Regiments Capital founder and director Magandheran Niven Pillay;
• Regiments Capital founder and director Litha Mveliso;
• Former Transnet chief financial officer Anoj Singh;
• Former Gupta kingpin Salim Essa;
• Former McKinsey director Vikas Sagar; and
• McKinsey operations manager Goitseone Mangope.