The man who was chief engineer of South Africa's state-owned passenger rail company has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for falsifying his qualifications.

According to a BBC report, during the time of the "scam" Daniel Mthimkhulu held senior positions in major companies.

He is said to have been head of engineering at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) for five years - earning an annual salary of around 2.8 million rand (156,000 dollars).

The publication notes that on his CV, the 49-year-old man claimed to have several qualifications in mechanical engineering, including a degree from the respected University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, as well as a doctorate from a German university.

However, the Johannesburg court heard that he had only completed high school.

"The sentence sends a strong message that perpetrators of white-collar crime will not go unpunished," said Phindi Mjonondwane, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), quoted by the BBC.

Mthimkhulu was arrested in July 2015, shortly after his web of lies began to unravel.

He started working at Prasa 15 years earlier, rising through the ranks to become chief engineer thanks to his false qualifications.

Still on the list of his lies, the court heard that the man managed to forge a job offer letter from a German company, which encouraged Prasa to increase his salary so that the agency wouldn't lose him.

He was also in charge of a 600 million rand deal to buy dozens of new trains from Spain, but they couldn't be used in South Africa because they were too high.

"The court took into account the seriousness and prevalence of the fraud, the significant financial loss to Prasa and Mthimkhulu's betrayal of his employer's trust," said Mjonondwane.

In a 2019 interview with local broadcaster eNCA, the fake engineer admitted that he didn't have a PhD.

"I couldn't correct the perception that I have it. I just felt comfortable with the title. I didn't foresee any damage as a result," he said.

Lt. Gen. Seswantsho Godfrey Lebeya, head of South Africa's elite Hawks police unit, who helped bring the criminal case, also welcomed the verdict.

"This should serve as a lesson to future fraudsters that crime doesn't pay," he said.

The Hawks claim that this is a case related to "state capture", a term used in South Africa to describe the widespread corruption that occurred during the term of Jacob Zuma, who was president between 2009 and 2018.

Other organizations and people on social media also welcomed the news, with some noting that it underlined the need to carry out basic checks when hiring people