The Particular Investigating Unit has determined 5 accounting companies that assisted loot Lottery resources. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Special Investigating Device has identified five accounting and auditing companies that served non-profit firms loot Lottery income intended for “very good results in”.
The accounting companies compiled fraudulent economical statements employed by these providers to submit an application for Lottery funding, the SIU informed Parliament.
Acting chief nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe explained the SIU would just take motion to acquire these companies blacklisted.
A four-calendar year probe because of the lottovip Exclusive Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered five accounting and auditing corporations that aided dodgy non-earnings businesses loot a huge selection of numerous rands intended for “good will cause” in the Lottery.
These companies were being explained via the SIU as “Experienced enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent economical statements” which were used by the businesses to submit an application for Lottery funding.
The 5 businesses were named in Parliament by the SIU’s performing chief countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They're TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Services.
Fraudulent financials made by these 5 accounting corporations served nearly forty companies get their palms on lottery funding, in accordance with the SIU presentation.
Determined by a Resource that contains details with all lottery grants considering that 2002, these companies acquired about R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs were funded from the Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) nevertheless the funds weren't employed for their supposed reason,” Xesibe instructed Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Competitors Portfolio Committee past week.
The SIU, the Hawks and the Countrywide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have been in Parliament to report to the committee on progress in bringing people and organisations linked to looting the lottery to ebook.
Xesibe advised GroundUp that the SIU intended to lodge grievances from the accounting corporations involved and was examining if these corporations were being registered and, If that's the case, with which Skilled bodies.
“We would like these organizations to get blacklisted,” she instructed GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was necessary to create two years of once-a-year money statements, Xesibe stated in Parliament.
Nonetheless, being an ongoing six-12 months investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has discovered, hijacked non-financial gain organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-earnings organizations (NPCs) with no money track data were being utilized to submit an application for funding.
In a few cases, almost similar monetary statements ended up developed for unrelated organisations, usually with just the names with the organisations modified, GroundUp’s investigation observed.
Documents submitted by authentic NPCs for unsuccessful grant applications ended up usually utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to make an application for funding. The main points and paperwork in the unsuccessful applicants ended up equipped by senior Lottery officers for the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - typically - no verification, these dodgy applicants had been awarded many rands in grants. In some cases supplemental tranches of money were being paid out out without having A great deal examining within the progress of tasks.
The overwhelming majority of such grants had been created via proactive funding, which was at the center in the looting of your lottery. Proactive funding authorized the Minister of Trade, Business and Competitiveness, or maybe the NLC along with its board, to determine causes to fund with no initially necessitating an application. This was stopped each time a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants underneath investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi claimed the SIU was at this time investigating grants valued at about R2-billion, as well as unit was even now on a regular basis getting tip-offs about additional corruption.
He explained to MPs the SIU’s investigation were broken into 3 phases: the primary, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the second, also done, concerned R247-million. In the third stage, as a result of be finalised at the conclusion of the year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Virtually R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi claimed.
He said which the SIU would utilize “quickly” to the Presidential Proclamation, initially granted in Oct 2020 to research corruption involving lottery grants, for being extended to incorporate procurement via the NLC.
The SIU investigation had to this point brought about 13 disciplinary referrals to your NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Intellectual Houses Fee to blacklist folks implicated within the looting. Issues involving two individuals had been referred for the Authorized Exercise Council and the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU had observed various traits under the prior NLC board and government - lots of whom are already implicated in looting - Mothibi explained to MPs.
This integrated a “pattern of collusion in between NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “standard maladministration while in the approval of grants,” he claimed.
Sluggish development with the NPA
The SIU has frozen properties, Attributes, autos and also other belongings well worth tens of tens of millions that were acquired with lottery resources, but MPs expressed concern at sluggish development in prosecuting Individuals linked to the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to recover assets purchased with stolen condition resources and doesn't have prosecuting powers).
Although the SIU has referred 15 matters to your NPA, to this point only two people have been brought just before a courtroom. Two Adult males appeared in court docket in Kimberley a short while ago in connection with misappropriated funds gathered for your challenge to battle gender-dependent violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight a long time in jail for his portion inside a R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Rates from two persons billed with him, who the SIU has referred to as “kingpins” in the corruption that overcome the NLC, had been dropped.
Important-Standard Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for precedence offences, explained to MPs that the Hawks ended up presently investigating 16 lottery corruption-similar situations. An additional a single - the Kimberley make any difference - is right before a court docket and two are actually despatched to your NPA for a choice to prosecute. A further five instances are increasingly being investigated by the SAPS detective and forensic services, he claimed.
Conveying the reasons with the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Nationwide Director Rodney de Kock reported Section of the reason was the Hawks needed to do even more investigations after they been given dossiers from the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations undertaken because of the SIU do not satisfy legal benchmarks for prosecutions.”
Hence, the NPA experienced to operate with investigators while in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to carry out criminal investigations and be certain that the evidence meets criminal prosecution requirements, he mentioned, including: “Having said that, the get the job done in the SIU is significant and contributes drastically to this process.”
De Kock reported that the SIU’s investigation “normally leads to multiple referrals. The referrals may well in the end end in one docket and one particular court docket circumstance.”
He reported that twelve issues, which are “around 85% comprehensive”, ended up staying jointly investigated because of the Hawks as well as SIU’s Specialised Financial Operations Unit. (These types of cases, 7 of which have been lodged in 2020, include previous NLC chief functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned beneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria law firm Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock claimed the NPA confronted many “problems” in prosecuting cases. These, he claimed, incorporated
the lapse of your time among in the event the offences had been fully commited along with the issuing with the Presidential Proclamation on one November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Before this calendar year, the SIU advised the committee that essential documents essential in a few prosecutions had been deleted through the NLC Laptop or computer system or experienced long gone missing from Metrofile, a warehouse the place copies of documents are archived and saved);
The truth that some implicated folks are still used by NLC; and
A problem for the legality of the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is dedicated to making certain finalisation in these issues. To this end, a crew of focused prosecutors has actually been allocated to oversee all NLC matters at this time under investigation,” de Kock mentioned. “Issues are taken care of as being a priority. As soon as [the] investigations are accomplished, the NPA is likely to make a choice.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable to get comment from among the list of 5 firms accused with the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent once-a-year money statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, considered one of TTP’s two directors, stated within an e-mail in reaction to inquiries: “Resulting from customer confidentiality, we desire to recommend that TTP Consulting just isn't prepared to divulge purchasers’ financial confidential information with the public or media … without the consent with the client or possibly a lawful purpose.”
The business is often a “partner” of a number of state entities, which includes SARS along with the CIPC, As outlined by its Web-site.
Neither of The 2 directors of Dzata Accountants, who are both of those mentioned as inactive to the CIPC register of businesses, responded to emailed questions. The corporation has actually been deregistered through the CIPC for failing to post economic statements since 2021.
The sole director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Support, Patrick Zulu, died 3 decades ago, In line with Formal data. The corporation was deregistered by the CIPC for failing to submit monetary statements considering that 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the only director of Magodi Consultants, did not respond to concerns emailed to him.
GroundUp was unable to find any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Solutions Using the CIPC. We were also struggling to trace any of the corporate’s directors to request remark.