The accountants who aided loot the Lottery
The accountants who aided loot the Lottery
Blog Article
The Distinctive Investigating Device has discovered five accounting corporations that helped loot Lottery money. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Distinctive Investigating Device has identified 5 accounting and auditing companies that assisted non-gain companies loot Lottery funds intended for “good results in”.
The accounting firms compiled fraudulent economical statements used by these corporations to apply for Lottery funding, the SIU explained to Parliament.
Acting Main national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe explained the SIU would consider motion to acquire these corporations blacklisted.
A four-12 months probe from the หวย Distinctive Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered five accounting and auditing firms that served dodgy non-earnings providers loot countless millions of rands intended for “superior triggers” within the Lottery.
These firms were described through the SIU as “Qualified enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent economical statements” that were used by the businesses to make an application for Lottery funding.
The 5 corporations ended up named in Parliament by the SIU’s performing Main nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They may be TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Companies.
Fraudulent financials made by these five accounting firms helped practically 40 businesses get their arms on lottery funding, based on the SIU presentation.
Based on a Software containing data with all lottery grants given that 2002, these businesses acquired over R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs ended up funded from the Countrywide Lotteries Fee (NLC) even so the resources were not utilised for their intended intent,” Xesibe advised Parliament’s Trade, Marketplace and Opposition Portfolio Committee previous week.
The SIU, the Hawks and also the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had been in Parliament to report back to the committee on progress in bringing men and women and organisations involved with looting the lottery to reserve.
Xesibe told GroundUp which the SIU meant to lodge grievances towards the accounting corporations included and was examining if these firms ended up registered and, If that is so, with which professional bodies.
“We want these corporations being blacklisted,” she explained to GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was needed to create two several years of once-a-year monetary statements, Xesibe spelled out in Parliament.
Having said that, as an ongoing six-year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has discovered, hijacked non-revenue organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-earnings organizations (NPCs) with no monetary keep track of records ended up used to make an application for funding.
In certain cases, Pretty much equivalent financial statements were developed for unrelated organisations, usually with only the names of your organisations adjusted, GroundUp’s investigation discovered.
Paperwork submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant programs had been usually utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to make an application for funding. The small print and paperwork in the unsuccessful applicants had been supplied by senior Lottery officials towards the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - usually - no verification, these dodgy applicants were being awarded millions of rands in grants. Occasionally supplemental tranches of cash had been compensated out without the need of A lot examining within the development of projects.
The vast majority of those grants had been built by way of proactive funding, which was at the center of your looting of the lottery. Proactive funding authorized the Minister of Trade, Industry and Levels of competition, or the NLC along with its board, to establish results in to fund without first requiring an application. This was stopped when a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants underneath investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi stated the SIU was currently investigating grants valued at over R2-billion, and also the device was nevertheless regularly acquiring tip-offs about more corruption.
He advised MPs the SIU’s investigation were damaged into a few phases: the main, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the 2nd, also completed, involved R247-million. Within the third phase, as a consequence of be finalised at the conclusion of the calendar year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Virtually R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi said.
He said which the SIU would utilize “before long” to the Presidential Proclamation, initially granted in October 2020 to analyze corruption involving lottery grants, to get extended to incorporate procurement with the NLC.
The SIU investigation had to this point resulted in 13 disciplinary referrals to the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Intellectual Homes Fee to blacklist individuals implicated within the looting. Issues involving two people today were referred towards the Legal Practice Council as well as the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU had noticed quite a few traits beneath the former NLC board and govt - lots of whom are implicated in looting - Mothibi instructed MPs.
This incorporated a “trend of collusion concerning NLC officials and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “typical maladministration from the approval of grants,” he explained.
Gradual progress because of the NPA
The SIU has frozen homes, Homes, cars and trucks and also other property truly worth tens of thousands and thousands which were acquired with lottery resources, but MPs expressed concern at slow progress in prosecuting All those linked to the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get better belongings purchased with stolen condition cash and doesn't have prosecuting powers).
Though the SIU has referred fifteen matters on the NPA, thus far only two individuals have been brought just before a court. Two men appeared in court docket in Kimberley not long ago in connection with misappropriated resources collected for a task to combat gender-dependent violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight several years in prison for his portion inside a R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Fees versus two folks charged with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” in the corruption that overcome the NLC, were being dropped.
Significant-Normal Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for precedence offences, told MPs the Hawks were at the moment investigating sixteen lottery corruption-related situations. A different just one - the Kimberley subject - is right before a courtroom and two have already been sent into the NPA for a choice to prosecute. An extra five situations are being investigated because of the SAPS detective and forensic expert services, he stated.
Outlining The explanations for the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Countrywide Director Rodney de Kock claimed A part of The key reason why was that the Hawks needed to do additional investigations if they been given dossiers from your SIU.
“In essence, the investigations carried out via the SIU do not fulfill prison benchmarks for prosecutions.”
Consequently, the NPA experienced to operate with investigators from the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to carry out criminal investigations and be certain that the evidence meets criminal prosecution standards, he said, introducing: “Having said that, the perform from the SIU is important and contributes enormously to this method.”
De Kock claimed that the SIU’s investigation “often ends in a number of referrals. The referrals might finally cause one docket and a single courtroom circumstance.”
He mentioned that twelve issues, that happen to be “approximately 85% comprehensive”, ended up staying jointly investigated via the Hawks and the SIU’s Specialised Economic Operations Device. (Most of these circumstances, 7 of which ended up lodged in 2020, entail former NLC chief functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned beneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria lawyer Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock stated the NPA confronted several “worries” in prosecuting cases. These, he said, included
the lapse of time involving when the offences had been fully commited and the issuing on the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary evidence” (Previously this yr, the SIU advised the committee that vital files needed in some prosecutions were deleted from your NLC Laptop process or had gone missing from Metrofile, a warehouse exactly where copies of files are archived and saved);
The point that some implicated persons are still used by NLC; and
A problem for the legality from the Presidential Proclamation by previous NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to making sure finalisation in these matters. To this close, a staff of devoted prosecutors continues to be allotted to supervise all NLC matters at this time under investigation,” de Kock explained. “Issues are handled for a precedence. As soon as [the] investigations are accomplished, the NPA could make a call.”
What the businesses say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only able to get remark from one of several five firms accused because of the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent yearly economic statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, one among TTP’s two directors, mentioned in an electronic mail in response to issues: “Due to customer confidentiality, we want to recommend that TTP Consulting will not be willing to divulge purchasers’ economic private details with the general public or media … with no consent of your client or possibly a lawful purpose.”
The business is often a “husband or wife” of several point out entities, together with SARS as well as CIPC, Based on its Web site.
Neither of The 2 directors of Dzata Accountants, who're the two detailed as inactive about the CIPC register of companies, responded to emailed issues. The company has long been deregistered with the CIPC for failing to post economical statements considering that 2021.
The only director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Services, Patrick Zulu, died 3 years ago, As outlined by official information. The corporate was deregistered via the CIPC for failing to post economical statements given that 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the sole director of Magodi Consultants, did not reply to thoughts emailed to him.
GroundUp was struggling to come across any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Products and services Using the CIPC. We were also struggling to trace any of the corporation’s directors to request remark.