Transnet Wasted Billions on Trains, South Africa Probe Finds
- Locomotive prices increases weren’t justified, law firm says
- Deal said to violate multiple laws, governance standards
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Transnet SOC Ltd., South Africa’s port and freight-rail operator, squandered billions of rand and broke a raft of regulations when it altered the terms of a deal to buy 1,064 new locomotives, a investigation by law firm Werksmans Attorneys found.
The state-owned company commissioned the probe in July last year after allegations surfaced that massive kickbacks were paid on the deal. The accusations were contained in a trove of more than 1 million electronic documents and were published by local investigative journalists. Its board -- which has since been replaced -- said Werksmans didn’t uncover wrongdoing by any of its officials, an assertion the law firm disputed. A copy of the Werksmans’ report dated Dec. 7 was seen by Bloomberg.