Prasa seeks to win back wasted billions

South African rail parastatal Prasa has launched a court action against the Spanish company that provided the controversial Afro 4000 trains – found to be unsuitable for the local rail network – in a bid to take back its stock and refund the R2.65bn already paid to it. The deal attracted international headlines when it was discovered the trains were too tall for South Africa’s railways. It has also emerged that Prasa executives involved in the deal could face criminal charges for their part in the scandal, says a Sunday Times report. Court papers detail allegations of blatant collusion in the tender process, designed to favour certain individuals from the start. Prasa chairperson Popo Molefe has approached the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) to ask it to have the R4.8bn locomotive deal scrapped. Prasa has also begun legal proceedings to recover R20m in ‘remuneration, bonuses and travel expenses’ paid to its bogus former chief engineer Daniel Mtimkulu, whose engineering qualifications proved to be false. Mtimkulu was central to the deal. The Hawks are also continuing with the criminal investigation into Mtimkulu and Prasa's former group CEO, Lucky Montana, for corruption relating to the alleged rigging of the tender process. In an affidavit, Molefe lays out details of how the tender was allegedly rigged from the beginning and specifically designed to favour Swifambo Rail Leasing and its ‘joint venture’ partner, Spanish locomotive manufacturer Vossloh España.