‘They will not get my houses’: Lucky Montana hits back as SIU targets luxury properties

Former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) CEO Lucky Montana has vowed to fight the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) legal action, insisting investigators “will not get any of my houses”. This comes after the unit moved topreserve two luxury propertiesallegedly linked to corruption. In a lengthy statement posted on X, Montana said: “The SIU will fail.

I have read this script before, repeated so many times, in many different forms. As part of my peace, I stand still and watch. All I know is these will pass.

“The SIU and other organs of state continue to dream of the day they will feed on the carcass of Lucky Montana. But this will not happen, not in this lifetime. I wish the SIU all the best in this latest attempt, but they will not get any of my houses,” he said.

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The SIU announced at the weekend that it had secured an order from the Special Tribunal for the preservation of two luxury properties linked to Montana as part of its efforts to recover assets allegedly acquired through corruption. The properties located in Hurlingham, Johannesburg, and Waterkloof, Pretoria, have a combined value of nearly R16m. The order prohibits Montana from selling, transferring, leasing or otherwise dealing with the properties while civil recovery proceedings continue.

The unit said its investigation uncovered a money trail linking the properties to proceeds from Prasa’s controversial R5.6bn integrated security access management system (Isams) tender awarded to Siyangena Technologies. The SIU did not obtain any order to freeze my assets “Just to separate, at the very outset, fact from fiction. The SIU did not obtain any order to freeze my assets.

The legal process is simple: an organ of state would approach a court to seek a provisional order as part of initiating its legal action. You are not notified or served papers at this stage,” he said. “I was served with papers on or about July 9 and filed my notice to oppose last Thursday. In terms of the uniform rules of the court, I’m required to file my opposing affidavit within 20 working days from the date of the filing of my notice to oppose, which falls on August 19,” he said.

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