The Special Investigating Device has discovered 5 accounting firms that served loot Lottery resources. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Particular Investigating Unit has recognized five accounting and auditing companies that helped non-profit organizations loot Lottery revenue supposed for “good causes”.
The accounting corporations compiled fraudulent financial statements utilized by these organizations to submit an application for Lottery funding, the SIU advised Parliament.
Acting chief countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe said the SIU would acquire motion to possess these firms blacklisted.
A four-12 months probe by the หวย รัฐบาล Unique Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered five accounting and auditing corporations that assisted dodgy non-earnings companies loot many hundreds of numerous rands intended for “fantastic leads to” with the Lottery.
These corporations had been described with the SIU as “Expert enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent financial statements” that were employed by the companies to make an application for Lottery funding.
The 5 organizations were named in Parliament because of the SIU’s performing chief nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They may be TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Expert services.
Fraudulent financials produced by these 5 accounting companies helped nearly forty providers get their arms on lottery funding, based on the SIU presentation.
According to a tool made up of data with all lottery grants because 2002, these companies acquired more than R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs ended up funded through the Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) nevertheless the resources weren't applied for their intended function,” Xesibe instructed Parliament’s Trade, Business and Opposition Portfolio Committee past 7 days.
The SIU, the Hawks as well as Countrywide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) ended up in Parliament to report to the committee on development in bringing men and women and organisations linked to looting the lottery to e book.
Xesibe explained to GroundUp which the SIU intended to lodge problems versus the accounting companies involved and was checking if these companies were registered and, If that's so, with which Experienced bodies.
“We would like these providers for being blacklisted,” she instructed GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was needed to produce two a long time of annual monetary statements, Xesibe defined in Parliament.
Nonetheless, as an ongoing 6-calendar year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has unveiled, hijacked non-revenue organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-gain providers (NPCs) without fiscal track documents have been utilized to make an application for funding.
In certain cases, Nearly equivalent economic statements have been produced for unrelated organisations, generally with only the names on the organisations modified, GroundUp’s investigation uncovered.
Files submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant applications have been generally employed by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to submit an application for funding. The small print and documents from the unsuccessful applicants were equipped by senior Lottery officials towards the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - often - no verification, these dodgy applicants ended up awarded numerous rands in grants. Occasionally additional tranches of money were being compensated out with no A lot checking within the development of projects.
The overwhelming majority of such grants were manufactured by means of proactive funding, which was at the guts of the looting in the lottery. Proactive funding allowed the Minister of Trade, Sector and Competitiveness, or maybe the NLC together with its board, to discover causes to fund with out initial requiring an software. This was stopped each time a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants beneath investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi explained the SIU was at present investigating grants valued at over R2-billion, as well as unit was still consistently getting suggestion-offs about more corruption.
He advised MPs the SIU’s investigation were damaged into 3 phases: the initial, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the next, also concluded, included R247-million. During the 3rd section, because of be finalised at the end of the calendar year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Practically R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi stated.
He stated that the SIU would utilize “shortly” for your Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in Oct 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, to be extended to include procurement via the NLC.
The SIU investigation had so far resulted in thirteen disciplinary referrals to the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Intellectual Attributes Fee to blacklist folks implicated during the looting. Grievances involving two persons were referred to the Legal Practice Council along with the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU experienced observed a number of developments under the prior NLC board and govt - lots of whom are actually implicated in looting - Mothibi told MPs.
This included a “development of collusion amongst NLC officials and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “general maladministration from the approval of grants,” he explained.
Gradual progress with the NPA
The SIU has frozen homes, Homes, cars and trucks and also other belongings really worth tens of hundreds of thousands that were purchased with lottery cash, but MPs expressed worry at sluggish development in prosecuting Those people linked to the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get better property purchased with stolen state resources and doesn't have prosecuting powers).
Even though the SIU has referred 15 matters towards the NPA, to this point only two individuals have been brought prior to a court docket. Two Guys appeared in court docket in Kimberley not long ago in connection with misappropriated cash collected for the venture to battle gender-based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight years in prison for his aspect within a R1.5-million lottery grant fraud. Rates towards two persons billed with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” in the corruption that overwhelmed the NLC, had been dropped.
Big-Typical Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for precedence offences, instructed MPs the Hawks had been at present investigating 16 lottery corruption-associated instances. Another one - the Kimberley matter - is prior to a court and two are already despatched to your NPA for a choice to prosecute. An extra five cases are now being investigated by the SAPS detective and forensic expert services, he stated.
Outlining The explanations for the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock claimed A part of the reason was which the Hawks had to do further more investigations whenever they been given dossiers in the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations undertaken through the SIU tend not to satisfy legal benchmarks for prosecutions.”
Therefore, the NPA had to work with investigators within the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to perform prison investigations and make sure that the evidence meets prison prosecution requirements, he explained, including: “That said, the work in the SIU is vital and contributes drastically to this method.”
De Kock mentioned the SIU’s investigation “usually brings about a number of referrals. The referrals might finally cause one docket and just one court case.”
He reported that twelve issues, that happen to be “roughly 85% full”, were being getting jointly investigated through the Hawks as well as SIU’s Specialised Financial Operations Device. (A large number of cases, 7 of which have been lodged in 2020, include former NLC Main working officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned beneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria lawyer Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock explained the NPA faced various “issues” in prosecuting circumstances. These, he reported, incorporated
the lapse of your time in between if the offences had been dedicated as well as issuing in the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Before this calendar year, the SIU told the committee that essential files needed in a few prosecutions had been deleted from your NLC Laptop procedure or experienced absent lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse where by copies of paperwork are archived and stored);
The point that some implicated individuals remain utilized by NLC; and
A challenge into the legality in the Presidential Proclamation by previous NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to making sure finalisation in these issues. To this close, a crew of focused prosecutors has actually been allocated to oversee all NLC matters currently underneath investigation,” de Kock said. “Matters are dealt with for a precedence. Once [the] investigations are finished, the NPA can make a decision.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable of get comment from one of several five organizations accused via the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent yearly economic statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, considered one of TTP’s two directors, said within an e mail in response to questions: “As a consequence of customer confidentiality, we wish to suggest that TTP Consulting is not ready to disclose clients’ economic private info with the public or media … without the consent with the customer or perhaps a authorized reason.”
The organization can be a “husband or wife” of several point out entities, including SARS along with the CIPC, Based on its Web site.
Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, that are the two outlined as inactive about the CIPC register of corporations, responded to emailed queries. The corporation has become deregistered by the CIPC for failing to submit fiscal statements since 2021.
The sole director of Mageba Ntuli Buying and selling and Consulting Company, Patrick Zulu, died a few many years ago, In line with Formal data. The corporation was deregistered from the CIPC for failing to submit monetary statements given that 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the sole director of Magodi Consultants, didn't respond to queries emailed to him.
GroundUp was unable to find any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Products and services While using the CIPC. We have been also unable to trace any of the corporate’s directors to ask for remark.