A former Transnet legal head and two managers from a rail maintenance company appeared in the Johannesburg specialised crime court sitting at Palm Ridge magistrate's court on Wednesday.

The trio, who are charged with corruption and money laundering, appeared briefly after handing themselves over for arrest early on Wednesday morning.

It is alleged that Transnet’s head of legal services Kenneth Deidricks approved a settlement payment of R25m to rail company Polyzomba after a contractual dispute lodged by the company in December 2011 without Transnet’s knowledge or approval.

“After completing work for the tender awarded to Polyzomba worth R64m  and with the contract expired, Polyzomba laid a dispute for work they’d done but were not paid for. The value of that dispute was R25m,” said NPA Gauteng spokesperson Phindi Mjondwana.

Deidricks allegedly received a kickback of at least R300,000 which he allegedly used as a deposit to purchase a house worth R3.7m in Bassonia.

Deidricks' co-accused, Charles Pretorius and Refiloe Martins, former managers at the rail-maintenance company, allegedly received and facilitated the movement of the money from the SOE.

The court granted all three accused bail of R10,000. They will make their next appearance on March 7 2023 for the state to disclose the contents of the docket and for a  pretrial hearing.

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