Daniel Mthimkhulu was sentenced on Tuesday having been on trial facing nine counts, including fraud, uttering and forgery.
Hawks national head General Godfrey Lebeya hopes former Passenger Rail Agency South Africa (Prasa) employee, Daniel Mthimkhulu’s 15-year imprisonment for misrepresenting his qualifications serves as a lesson to would-be fraudsters that crime doesn’t pay.
Mthimkhulu, 49, was sentenced on Tuesday having been on trial facing nine counts, including fraud, uttering and forgery.
This was for allegedly misrepresenting his qualifications to Prasa, claiming among others, to have acquired a Master’s degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, as well as a Doctorate in Engineering Management from the Technische Universität München (Munich Technical University) in Germany upon his arrest in July 2015.
Hawks spokesperson Katlego Mogale said: “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.
“The Hawks’ Serious Economic Offences Unit of the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation was instrumental in ensuring that Mthimkhulu was ultimately convicted.”
Mthimkhulu was convicted in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Palm Ridge on January 31, 2022.
In March this year, the Johannesburg High Court attached his immovable and movable properties in terms of a confiscation order granted in accordance with Section 18 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
The court also ordered Mthimkhulu to pay Prasa R5.8m so it could recoup “the proceeds of crime”.
The Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Palm Ridge on Tuesday sentenced Mthimkhulu to 15 years’ imprisonment for count 1 and 6 years for counts 4 and 8, to be served concurrently.
“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,” said Mogale.
Lebeya welcomed the sentence and applauded the hard work and efforts of the investigation and prosecution teams.
Cape Times
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