The Specific Investigating Unit has identified five accounting corporations that served loot Lottery resources. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Unique Investigating Device has discovered 5 accounting and auditing corporations that aided non-earnings organizations loot Lottery dollars meant for “good causes”.
The accounting corporations compiled fraudulent economical statements utilized by these firms to make an application for Lottery funding, the SIU advised Parliament.
Acting chief national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe explained the SIU would get motion to get these corporations blacklisted.
A 4-yr probe because of the ตรวจ ล้อ ต เต อ รี่ Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered 5 accounting and auditing firms that aided dodgy non-financial gain corporations loot countless numerous rands designed for “superior brings about” in the Lottery.
These corporations were explained with the SIU as “Expert enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent money statements” which were employed by the businesses to apply for Lottery funding.
The five firms have been named in Parliament with the SIU’s performing Main countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They are TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Companies.
Fraudulent financials produced by these five accounting firms served almost forty companies get their arms on lottery funding, in accordance with the SIU presentation.
Determined by a tool that contains knowledge with all lottery grants since 2002, these providers acquired in excess of R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs were being funded by the Countrywide Lotteries Fee (NLC) nevertheless the cash were not made use of for his or her meant objective,” Xesibe advised Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Competitiveness Portfolio Committee past 7 days.
The SIU, the Hawks and the Countrywide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have been in Parliament to report to the committee on development in bringing people and organisations involved with looting the lottery to e-book.
Xesibe instructed GroundUp which the SIU meant to lodge complaints towards the accounting firms concerned and was checking if these firms had been registered and, If that is so, with which Experienced bodies.
“We want these companies to be blacklisted,” she explained to GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was needed to make two yrs of once-a-year monetary statements, Xesibe defined in Parliament.
On the other hand, being an ongoing six-12 months investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has disclosed, hijacked non-financial gain organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-income firms (NPCs) without any monetary keep track of information have been utilized to submit an application for funding.
In some scenarios, Virtually equivalent financial statements ended up produced for unrelated organisations, usually with only the names of your organisations changed, GroundUp’s investigation discovered.
Documents submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant applications were normally utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to make an application for funding. The small print and documents of your unsuccessful applicants were being equipped by senior Lottery officers on the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - typically - no verification, these dodgy applicants were awarded many rands in grants. From time to time more tranches of funds were being paid out without the need of A great deal checking within the development of initiatives.
The vast majority of such grants were manufactured by means of proactive funding, which was at the guts in the looting with the lottery. Proactive funding authorized the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competitiveness, or perhaps the NLC along with its board, to recognize triggers to fund without having very first requiring an software. This was stopped any time a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants less than investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi said the SIU was currently investigating grants valued at over R2-billion, along with the unit was still regularly obtaining idea-offs about far more corruption.
He informed MPs the SIU’s investigation were broken into three phases: the 1st, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the 2nd, also completed, concerned R247-million. While in the 3rd period, due to be finalised at the end of the year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Just about R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi stated.
He stated which the SIU would utilize “soon” with the Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in October 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, to become prolonged to include procurement via the NLC.
The SIU investigation had thus far brought about 13 disciplinary referrals to your NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Intellectual Houses Fee to blacklist individuals implicated from the looting. Complaints involving two men and women were referred into the Legal Follow Council and the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU experienced noticed many tendencies beneath the past NLC board and government - lots of whom are actually implicated in looting - Mothibi explained to MPs.
This included a “development of collusion concerning NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “typical maladministration in the approval of grants,” he said.
Sluggish progress from the NPA
The SIU has frozen households, Qualities, vehicles as well as other property worth tens of tens of millions which were purchased with lottery cash, but MPs expressed worry at sluggish development in prosecuting those involved in the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to recover assets acquired with stolen condition cash and does not have prosecuting powers).
Although the SIU has referred 15 issues to your NPA, to date only two people have been brought right before a courtroom. Two Males appeared in court docket in Kimberley just lately in reference to misappropriated money collected for your venture to battle gender-based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to 8 a long time in jail for his component inside of a R1.5-million lottery grant fraud. Fees against two men and women billed with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” within the corruption that overcome the NLC, ended up dropped.
Major-Basic Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for priority offences, informed MPs that the Hawks had been at present investigating 16 lottery corruption-related instances. An additional 1 - the Kimberley matter - is right before a courtroom and two happen to be despatched for the NPA for a call to prosecute. An additional 5 instances are increasingly being investigated through the SAPS detective and forensic solutions, he claimed.
Describing the reasons with the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock reported Portion of The key reason why was that the Hawks had to do more investigations every time they received dossiers in the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations undertaken from the SIU tend not to fulfill felony benchmarks for prosecutions.”
For that reason, the NPA experienced to work with investigators while in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to carry out legal investigations and ensure that the proof satisfies legal prosecution requirements, he reported, incorporating: “That said, the get the job done with the SIU is crucial and contributes enormously to this process.”
De Kock explained which the SIU’s investigation “normally ends in multiple referrals. The referrals may well eventually bring about one particular docket and one court situation.”
He claimed that twelve matters, which are “around 85% comprehensive”, were being becoming jointly investigated because of the Hawks and the SIU’s Specialised Economic Operations Device. (Most of these instances, 7 of which ended up lodged in 2020, entail former NLC chief functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned less than a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria attorney Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock stated the NPA confronted various “problems” in prosecuting situations. These, he mentioned, bundled
the lapse of time concerning when the offences were being committed as well as issuing with the Presidential Proclamation on one November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Before this year, the SIU advised the committee that vital files wanted in a few prosecutions had been deleted from the NLC Laptop or computer method or experienced absent missing from Metrofile, a warehouse where by copies of paperwork are archived and saved);
The truth that some implicated people remain employed by NLC; and
A problem towards the legality with the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is devoted to making sure finalisation in these matters. To this end, a staff of dedicated prosecutors has become allotted to oversee all NLC matters at the moment less than investigation,” de Kock explained. “Issues are taken care of as being a priority. After [the] investigations are concluded, the NPA could make a call.”
What the businesses say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only in a position to get comment from one of many five companies accused via the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent annual financial statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, one of TTP’s two administrators, stated within an email in reaction to queries: “As a result of shopper confidentiality, we would like to recommend that TTP Consulting is just not prepared to divulge consumers’ monetary confidential info with the public or media … without the consent with the shopper or even a authorized motive.”
The organization is often a “companion” of many condition entities, like SARS plus the CIPC, according to its Web site.
Neither of The 2 directors of Dzata Accountants, who will be equally shown as inactive about the CIPC register of firms, responded to emailed concerns. The corporation has actually been deregistered with the CIPC for failing to post fiscal statements because 2021.
The only director of Mageba Ntuli Buying and selling and Consulting Company, Patrick Zulu, died three several years back, according to official documents. The corporation was deregistered by the CIPC for failing to post economical statements since 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the sole director of Magodi Consultants, did not reply to issues emailed to him.
GroundUp was not able to locate any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Companies With all the CIPC. We were also not able to trace any of the business’s administrators to ask for comment.