The Specific Investigating Device has discovered 5 accounting firms that aided loot Lottery funds. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Special Investigating Device has identified five accounting and auditing corporations that helped non-financial gain organizations loot Lottery revenue intended for “excellent will cause”.
The accounting corporations compiled fraudulent economical statements employed by these providers to submit an application for Lottery funding, the SIU explained to Parliament.
Performing Main nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe mentioned the SIU would get action to obtain these companies blacklisted.
A four-calendar year probe with the ตา ว จ หวย Exclusive Investigating Device (SIU) has uncovered five accounting and auditing firms that helped dodgy non-revenue businesses loot a huge selection of numerous rands meant for “superior will cause” with the Lottery.
These companies have been described via the SIU as “Experienced enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent money statements” that were utilized by the businesses to make an application for Lottery funding.
The five corporations have been named in Parliament from the SIU’s performing Main national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They are TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Expert services.
Fraudulent financials made by these 5 accounting corporations served virtually forty corporations get their arms on lottery funding, in accordance with the SIU presentation.
Dependant on a Software made up of knowledge with all lottery grants due to the fact 2002, these firms acquired more than R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs were funded because of the National Lotteries Fee (NLC) even so the resources were not made use of for their meant purpose,” Xesibe instructed Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Competition Portfolio Committee final week.
The SIU, the Hawks as well as National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had been in Parliament to report to the committee on progress in bringing men and women and organisations linked to looting the lottery to book.
Xesibe told GroundUp that the SIU meant to lodge issues from the accounting companies concerned and was checking if these corporations ended up registered and, If that is so, with which Expert bodies.
“We want these companies being blacklisted,” she advised GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was required to produce two decades of yearly financial statements, Xesibe stated in Parliament.
Even so, being an ongoing six-calendar year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has exposed, hijacked non-earnings organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-revenue firms (NPCs) without any financial observe information had been utilized to make an application for funding.
In some scenarios, Practically equivalent money statements were developed for unrelated organisations, generally with just the names in the organisations improved, GroundUp’s investigation uncovered.
Documents submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant programs have been generally used by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to apply for funding. The main points and files of the unsuccessful applicants had been supplied by senior Lottery officers to your dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - often - no verification, these dodgy applicants were awarded numerous rands in grants. Occasionally further tranches of funds were being paid out out with out much checking to the progress of jobs.
The overwhelming majority of these grants ended up created by means of proactive funding, which was at the heart with the looting of your lottery. Proactive funding authorized the Minister of Trade, Sector and Competition, or even the NLC at the side of its board, to recognize results in to fund without the need of to start with requiring an application. This was stopped when a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants under investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi mentioned the SIU was currently investigating grants valued at more than R2-billion, and also the device was even now routinely acquiring tip-offs about more corruption.
He advised MPs the SIU’s investigation had been broken into 3 phases: the primary, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the second, also concluded, included R247-million. Within the third phase, as a consequence of be finalised at the end of the 12 months, the SIU is investigating grants valued at almost R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi said.
He reported which the SIU would implement “quickly” for that Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in Oct 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, for being extended to incorporate procurement via the NLC.
The SIU investigation had up to now triggered 13 disciplinary referrals towards the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Mental Qualities Commission to blacklist people implicated from the looting. Complaints involving two persons were referred for the Legal Follow Council and also the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU had noticed many tendencies underneath the previous NLC board and government - a lot of whom are actually implicated in looting - Mothibi instructed MPs.
This bundled a “craze of collusion involving NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “normal maladministration from the approval of grants,” he mentioned.
Gradual progress through the NPA
The SIU has frozen homes, Houses, cars and various assets worthy of tens of thousands and thousands which were acquired with lottery funds, but MPs expressed problem at gradual development in prosecuting People involved in the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get well property purchased with stolen state money and does not have prosecuting powers).
Whilst the SIU has referred 15 issues towards the NPA, up to now only two people have been introduced before a court docket. Two men appeared in court in Kimberley not too long ago in connection with misappropriated cash collected for just a job to fight gender-primarily based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to 8 several years in prison for his aspect within a R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Prices towards two individuals billed with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” inside the corruption that confused the NLC, were dropped.
Main-Normal Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for precedence offences, instructed MPs which the Hawks were at present investigating 16 lottery corruption-connected situations. A further a single - the Kimberley make any difference - is ahead of a court and two happen to be despatched to your NPA for a choice to prosecute. A further 5 conditions are now being investigated through the SAPS detective and forensic companies, he explained.
Detailing the reasons with the hold off in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Countrywide Director Rodney de Kock claimed Portion of The main reason was the Hawks needed to do further investigations if they been given dossiers in the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations undertaken because of the SIU do not satisfy criminal specifications for prosecutions.”
For that reason, the NPA experienced to work with investigators in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to perform legal investigations and make certain that the evidence fulfills prison prosecution criteria, he mentioned, incorporating: “Having said that, the perform of your SIU is very important and contributes considerably to this method.”
De Kock said that the SIU’s investigation “frequently leads to a number of referrals. The referrals may well finally result in 1 docket and 1 court docket circumstance.”
He claimed that 12 issues, which are “close to eighty five% full”, were being jointly investigated because of the Hawks as well as the SIU’s Specialised Economic Functions Unit. (These types of instances, 7 of which were being lodged in 2020, include previous NLC Main operating officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned below a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria attorney Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock claimed the NPA confronted a number of “issues” in prosecuting scenarios. These, he reported, included
the lapse of time between when the offences were committed and the issuing of the Presidential Proclamation on one November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary evidence” (Earlier this calendar year, the SIU instructed the committee that essential documents desired in a few prosecutions had been deleted with the NLC Laptop program or experienced gone lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse where copies of paperwork are archived and saved);
the fact that some implicated persons are still employed by NLC; and
A problem to your legality from the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is devoted to guaranteeing finalisation in these issues. To this close, a team of dedicated prosecutors is allocated to oversee all NLC matters presently below investigation,” de Kock stated. “Issues are taken care of for a precedence. After [the] investigations are accomplished, the NPA will make a call.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable of get remark from among the list of five companies accused because of the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent yearly financial statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, considered one of TTP’s two directors, mentioned within an email in response to issues: “Because of customer confidentiality, we need to advise that TTP Consulting just isn't ready to divulge consumers’ money private facts with the general public or media … with no consent on the consumer or possibly a authorized cause.”
The organization is really a “partner” of several point out entities, like SARS as well as the CIPC, Based on its Web-site.
Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, who are equally outlined as inactive to the CIPC register of organizations, responded to emailed thoughts. The organization has actually been deregistered by the CIPC for failing to submit economic statements due to the fact 2021.
The only real director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Company, Patrick Zulu, died a few yrs back, As outlined by Formal documents. The company 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 concerns emailed to him.
GroundUp was struggling to come across any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Expert services With all the CIPC. We were also not able to trace any of the company’s directors to request remark.