Transnet executives ‘misled’ board about Chinese locomotives
Former Transnet engineer Francis Callard says his documented motivation for sticking to a Japanese supplier was extensively and deliberately changed
A business case for the purchase of 100 locomotives was extensively changed by Transnet’s executives to favour a Gupta-linked Chinese company‚ China South Rail (CSR). This is according to former Transnet engineer Francis Callard, who told the state-capture inquiry on Friday that the state-owned enterprise’s (SOE) executives had misled its board acquisitions and disposals committee when it presented a business case motivating that the purchase of 100 electric trains be confined to CSR. Callard developed the original business case, which argued that the contract be confined to a Japanese consortium‚ Mitsui‚ which had previously supplied identical trains to Transnet. However‚ the case eventually presented to the board for approval was significantly different. “I developed a business case for the 100 locomotives for the coal export line. It was unilaterally changed by Transnet group executives to favour CSR. The changes and implications were material and I submit that the representation...
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