A former Transnet executive and managers of a company that did maintenance work for the embattled SOE have each been granted R10 000 bail at the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Palm Ridge.
Three of the accused persons including Kenneth Diedricks who was Transnet Freight Rail’s head of legal and forensics appeared alongside two former managers Charles Pretorius and Refiloe Martins, in relation to the R25 million unauthorised settlement which was paid to Polyzomba Rail Contractors.
The three are accused of corruption and money laundering and made their first appearance before the Johannesburg Specialised Crimes Court in Palm Ridge yesterday.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the former executive allegedly signed off a R25m payment to a rail maintenance company in 2011 following a contractual dispute which was unauthorised as a result the head of legal and forensics at Transnet received a kick-back totalling R300 000 used to pay a deposit of a property in Bassonia, south of Joburg.
It said the payment was unlawfully made to the company without Transnet’s approval. The NPA said a number of managers from the rail maintenance company also face corruption and money laundering charges.
NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said the head of legal and forensic (Diedricks) unlawfully authorised a settlement of more than R25m to Polyzomba Rail Contractors in 2011 and thereafter received a kickback of R300 000.
“We as the State are alleging that Mr Diedricks authorised this unlawful settlement of more than R25m to Polyzomba and thereafter received a kickback which he used to make a deposit of a property situated in Bassonia,” she said.
It is alleged that the executive also received as a bribe a carpet worth R20 000 from another company contracted to Transnet.
“After the completion of the work and expiry of the tender, (the company) lodged a dispute claiming R25m for additional work that they had done and had not received payment from Transnet,” she said.
The case was postponed to March 7 for the State to disclose the contents of the docket to the defence and for a pre-trial hearing.
In November 2015, Diedricks quit his post while under investigation by audit firm PwC.
In 2018, Yvette Diedricks lifted the lid on the corruption involving her former spouse at the parastatal in a17-page affidavit accompanied by 157 pages of annexures, which included hotel receipts, emails, photographs and bank statements she had kept to herself.