The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has welcomed the judgment handed down by the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court for former Chief Engineer, Daniel Mthimkhulu, who was found guilty on three counts of fraud.

“Mthimkhulu was charged with nine counts of fraud for allegedly misrepresenting his qualifications to PRASA, including claims that he had a master’s degree from the University of Witwatersrand, as well as a Doctorate in Engineering Management from the Technische Universitat Munchen (Munich Technical University) in Germany,” PRASA said on Monday.

Due to his misrepresentations of qualifications, PRASA suffered financial prejudice in that Mthimkhulu’s salary was increased from R1.6 million to R2.8 million, a significant injustice to PRASA

The case has been remanded to 24 February 2022 for sentencing proceedings.

“PRASA management and its legal team are waiting for sentencing proceedings and will make further comments in due course. PRASA deems fraud and misrepresentation of qualifications in a very serious light as well acts of fraud that seek to prejudice the entity.

“PRASA is currently going through a skills audit process to root out the falsification of qualifications, if any. This judgment is another milestone in PRASA’s quest to clean up the entity,” the agency said.

Source: South African Government News Agency