The chief railway engineer faked his CV, got 15 years in prison
A chief engineer at South Africa’s state-owned railway company has been jailed for 15 years for falsifying his qualifications.
Daniel Mthimkhulu was chief engineer at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) for five years.
His annual salary was about 2.8 million rand (141,000 euros). In his CV, the 49-year-old claimed to have several mechanical engineering qualifications, including a degree from South Africa’s prestigious University of the Witwatersrand, as well as a doctorate from a German university.
However, the court in Johannesburg found that Mthimkhulu had only completed secondary school.
“The sentence sends a strong message that perpetrators of white-collar crime (crime committed by members of the middle or upper class of society) will not go unpunished,” said Phindi Mjonondwane, a representative of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Managed a business worth 30 million euros
Mthimkhulu was arrested in 2015, shortly after his web of lies began to unravel. He started working at Prasa 15 years ago, working his way up to chief engineer thanks to his fake qualifications. It was also learned that he falsified a job offer from a German company, which encouraged Prasa to increase his salary so as not to lose him, writes the BBC.
He was also in charge of a deal worth 600 million rand (30 million euros) when new trains were bought from Spain, which could not be used in South Africa because they were too high.
“The court took into account the seriousness and pervasiveness of the fraud, the significant financial loss to Prasa and Mthimkhulu’s breach of trust by the employer,” Mjonondwane said.
In a 2019 interview with local broadcaster eNCA, Mthimkhulu admitted that he did not have a doctorate. “I just felt comfortable with the title. “I did not foresee any harm as a result of this,” he said. Mthimkhulu reportedly plans to appeal.
Source: Index
Photo: Pixabay, Freepik
Source: bizlife.rs
