By Saneliso Mlambo.
Former Passenger Rail Agency South Africa (PRASA) Chief Engineer Daniel Mtimkulu has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for faking his qualifications and creating a false job offer from a German company in order to boost his salary.
Mtimkulu (49), was convicted in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting, in Palm Ridge on 31 January 2022.
He was charged with nine counts including fraud, uttering and forgery by allegedly misrepresenting his qualifications to Prasa, claiming among others, 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 upon his arrest in July 2015.
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 High Court in Johannesburg had, on 5 March 2024, attached both immovable and movable properties belonging to Mthimkhulu and further ordered that he pay R5.8 million to Prasa to recoup the proceeds of crime.
He has been sentenced to 15 years in jail on count one and six years in prison to be spent concurrently with 15 years in prison on counts four and eight.