Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko is being investigated by the Johannesburg Metro Police Deparment (JMPD) following an allegationthat he has been driving around with someone else's licence plates, racking up traffic fines running into the tens of thousands.
JMPD spokesperson Superintendent Wayne Minnaar this morning confirmed that a high-level investigation is being conducted, by the JMPD's number plate investigation unit. "The docket will soon be handed over to the SA Police Services and director of prosecutions for a decision on this matter."
Minnaar could not furnish further details, saying "any traffic fine against any person is a matter between the individual and the state - until such time that the case appears before court".
The news comes amid a protracted retrenchment war and about a month after the JSE-listed company's boss attended a corporate governance course after being ordered to do so by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission.
In April CIPC commissioner Astrid Ludin said Maseko could have faced a fine of up to R1 million or criminal prosecution if he did not adhere to the Compliance Notice served on him on Telkom's its granting of an interest free-loan to its suspended CFO, Jacques Schindeh"utte, last November.
Penal measures
Maseko's fate - should he be found guilty of knowingly using false number plates - will only be known when the relevant authorities have concluded the case.
Should Maseko be found guilty of fraud - which Justice Project SA chair Howard Dembovsky says is a possible charge - the ramifications for the Telkom boss could be huge.
"Fraud is one of the most serious common-law crimes there are and the penalties are massive. A person could face significantly more than 10 years in jail. It's a serious matter."
Like any other fraud case, says Dembovsky, a fine or imprisonment - or both - could be the punishment meted, with secondary charges like contravention of the National Road Traffic Act being brought in as well.
In Maseko's case, he says, this may have been a genuine error, caused by the number plate embosser or it may have been a deliberate action on the part of the accused. "Either way, the onus is on the owner of the vehicle to check that his number plates and licence disc match one and other and had the accused have been stopped at a roadblock, he would have been arrested and charged with fraud and contravening regulation 35(6)(g) of the National Road Traffic Act Regulations."
The said law states: "No person shall operate on a public road a motor vehicle in or on which a number plate is carried on which a licence number appears which is not applicable to such motor vehicle or anything purporting to be a licence number, unless he or she provides evidence that such plate was not carried with criminal intent."
Share