Former Prasa Group CEO Lucky Montana has weighed in on a news report that the man acting in his former position increased his own salary by 350%.

“The group of Prasa executives behind the story want Collins Letsoalo to return to his old position at the Department of Transport so that they do not face the music for the transgressions they have committed‚” Montana posted on Twitter on Monday.

This was after Letsoalo denied that he had irregularly increased his salary. He said that the R5.9 million he is being paid‚ the salary applicable to the agency’s group CEO‚ was confirmed by the Prasa board.

But Sunday Times deputy editor S’thembiso Msomi has hit back at Montana and Letsoalo‚ saying the paper stands by its story.

“If [Letsoalo] insists on that‚ he must give us proof that the board passed a resolution that he must be paid as a CEO and not an acting CEO.”

Letsoalo‚ who remains an employee of the transport department‚ was seconded to Prasa by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters last year to turn the agency around‚ after Montana stepped down amid allegations of corruption and maladministration.

In her secondment letter‚ Peters said Letsoalo’s pay package of R1.3 million would not change. He would‚ however‚ receive a 12% “acting allowance“‚ the Sunday Times reported.

Letsoalo on Monday said that his salary would return to R1.3 million when he returns to the department‚ but that the R5.9 million he was earning while at Prasa had been approved by the agency’s board.

Letsoalo read out a letter from the board‚ stating its pleasure at his acceptance of the offer to act as group CEO. The letter also states that Letsoalo will be paid the annualised salary rate applicable to the position.

Letsoalo said he sought clarity from the group’s general manager of remuneration and benefits Bongani Nkomo‚ who wrote back with confirmation that the remuneration package for group CEO is about R5.9 million.

Montana accused the Sunday Times of extreme bias in its report‚ saying not all the facts were before the public.

“[Prasa chairperson] Popo Molefe has been conniving with [the newspaper] because Collins Letsoalo has also been questioning payments to Werkman’s Attorneys of R120 million and the value the investigation was adding to Prasa.

“Prasa is facing a serious crisis and this requires the urgent attention of the government. I find it disingenuous of the Sunday Times not to present the full facts of the story and deny the nation the information to make their own informed decisions about Prasa‚” he said in his Twitter post.

Montana‚ who claimed he was drawn into the story‚ said he was not fired as Prasa Group CEO‚ but stepped down‚ and that the Public Protector did not make any findings of corruption against him in a 2015 report.

He has taken the Public Protector’s report on review.