So, the problem that led to the guys downfall wasn't just that the trains the conman bought for Prasa were the wrong track gauge, but that even if they had the right gauge, they were entirely too tall to operate on the lines. Those are surprisingly significant oversights for someone in rail transportation to make. I guess he didn't even have a hobby train as a kid to prepare him to know that.

Regardless, there's a level of subtlety to this guys con job I can't imagine an African coming up with on their own. Yea, Jacob Zuma's admin was corrupt as you'd expect an African regime to be, but this kind of administrative fraud isn't something I imagine could be possible for people who regularly raid power utility transformers to get scrap metal and the poisonous cooling oil to sell to street food vendors.

They're just not disciplined enough to think in this way, but organized crime and intelligence cells are. Government agencies have access to billions of dollars annually, a lot of fraud potential to be had there. I'm curious how much money these investigations have found being funneled out of the agency during the Zuma and previous administrations.