The Special Investigating Device has recognized five accounting firms that helped loot Lottery funds. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Exclusive Investigating Device has identified five accounting and auditing firms that aided non-gain organizations loot Lottery funds intended for “great triggers”.
The accounting firms compiled fraudulent financial statements employed by these corporations to apply for Lottery funding, the SIU instructed Parliament.
Performing chief nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe claimed the SIU would choose motion to obtain these companies blacklisted.
A 4-12 months probe with the ตรวจ หวย ล่าสุด Exclusive Investigating Device (SIU) has exposed five accounting and auditing corporations that aided dodgy non-financial gain corporations loot many a lot of rands intended for “great results in” with the Lottery.
These firms were being described via the SIU as “Specialist enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent monetary statements” that were employed by the companies to apply for Lottery funding.
The five providers had been named in Parliament with the SIU’s performing Main countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They're TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Companies.
Fraudulent financials produced by these five accounting firms helped almost 40 companies get their hands on lottery funding, in accordance with the SIU presentation.
Based on a Software that contains knowledge with all lottery grants considering that 2002, these organizations got around R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs have been funded from the Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) although the funds were not made use of for their meant intent,” Xesibe informed Parliament’s Trade, Field and Opposition Portfolio Committee very last 7 days.
The SIU, the Hawks and also the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had been in Parliament to report to the committee on progress in bringing men and women and organisations involved with looting the lottery to ebook.
Xesibe advised GroundUp the SIU intended to lodge complaints versus the accounting corporations concerned and was checking if these corporations have been registered and, In that case, with which professional bodies.
“We would like these organizations for being blacklisted,” she instructed GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was required to deliver two years of yearly monetary statements, Xesibe spelled out in Parliament.
Even so, as an ongoing 6-calendar year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has uncovered, hijacked non-profit organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-gain organizations (NPCs) with no economic keep track of documents were being accustomed to apply for funding.
In some instances, almost similar economic statements ended up developed for unrelated organisations, often with only the names of your organisations transformed, GroundUp’s investigation identified.
Documents submitted by legitimate NPCs for unsuccessful grant purposes ended up generally used by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to make an application for funding. The details and paperwork from the unsuccessful applicants were being supplied by senior Lottery officers towards the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - generally - no verification, these dodgy applicants had been awarded countless rands in grants. Occasionally additional tranches of funds were compensated out without much checking to the development of jobs.
The overwhelming majority of such grants had been designed by using proactive funding, which was at the guts of the looting from the lottery. Proactive funding permitted the Minister of Trade, Business and Opposition, or even the NLC along with its board, to discover will cause to fund without the need of initial demanding an application. This was stopped when a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants less than investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi stated the SIU was now investigating grants valued at about R2-billion, as well as the device was nonetheless consistently getting idea-offs about far more corruption.
He informed MPs which the SIU’s investigation were damaged into 3 phases: the 1st, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the second, also finished, associated R247-million. In the 3rd section, because of be finalised at the end of the calendar year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Just about R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi stated.
He reported the SIU would implement “soon” to the Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in Oct 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, to get prolonged to incorporate procurement by the NLC.
The SIU investigation had to date brought about 13 disciplinary referrals on the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Mental Houses Fee to blacklist persons implicated from the looting. Problems involving two persons had been referred for the Legal Observe Council as well as SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU experienced observed quite a few tendencies under the former NLC board and government - many of whom have been implicated in looting - Mothibi instructed MPs.
This integrated a “craze of collusion between NLC officials and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “typical maladministration inside the acceptance of grants,” he reported.
Slow progress with the NPA
The SIU has frozen residences, Attributes, cars together with other belongings truly worth tens of millions which were purchased with lottery cash, but MPs expressed problem at slow development in prosecuting Those people linked to the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get well assets acquired with stolen condition funds and doesn't have prosecuting powers).
Even though the SIU has referred 15 issues for the NPA, so far only two individuals have been brought in advance of a court. Two Adult men appeared in court in Kimberley not long ago in connection with misappropriated resources collected for any task to fight gender-based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his part within a R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Costs in opposition to two people today billed with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” within the corruption that overwhelmed the NLC, have been dropped.
Main-Standard Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for priority offences, explained to MPs which the Hawks ended up now investigating sixteen lottery corruption-similar conditions. Another one - the Kimberley matter - is just before a court and two have been despatched towards the NPA for a call to prosecute. A further 5 instances are now being investigated by the SAPS detective and forensic expert services, he said.
Detailing the reasons for that hold off in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Nationwide Director Rodney de Kock claimed part of The main reason was that the Hawks needed to do further more investigations when they been given dossiers with the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations undertaken from the SIU don't fulfill legal requirements for prosecutions.”
Hence, the NPA had to operate with investigators inside the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to perform legal investigations and ensure that the evidence satisfies prison prosecution expectations, he reported, including: “That said, the do the job from the SIU is significant and contributes greatly to this process.”
De Kock stated that the SIU’s investigation “usually leads to several referrals. The referrals could eventually lead to 1 docket and 1 court circumstance.”
He claimed that 12 issues, which happen to be “somewhere around 85% complete”, ended up getting jointly investigated from the Hawks as well as SIU’s Specialised Economic Operations Device. (Many of these conditions, seven of which have been lodged in 2020, contain previous NLC chief working officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned underneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria law firm Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock said the NPA faced numerous “issues” in prosecuting conditions. These, he reported, included
the lapse of time between in the event the offences were being fully commited plus the issuing with the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Previously this yr, the SIU told the committee that vital paperwork needed in a few prosecutions had been deleted with the NLC Laptop method or had long gone missing from Metrofile, a warehouse wherever copies of files are archived and stored);
The reality that some implicated individuals are still utilized by NLC; and
A problem into the legality from the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is devoted to guaranteeing finalisation in these matters. To this conclusion, a workforce of focused prosecutors has been allotted to supervise all NLC matters at the moment beneath investigation,” de Kock explained. “Matters are handled as a precedence. After [the] investigations are accomplished, the NPA can make a call.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only in a position to get remark from one of several five corporations accused through the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent annual money statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, among TTP’s two administrators, said in an e-mail in reaction to questions: “On account of customer confidentiality, we wish to advise that TTP Consulting just isn't ready to divulge clientele’ fiscal confidential data with the public or media … without the consent of your client or maybe a lawful rationale.”
The company is a “partner” of several point out entities, like SARS as well as the CIPC, In accordance with its Web site.
Neither of The 2 directors of Dzata Accountants, that are both stated as inactive around the CIPC sign-up of companies, responded to emailed queries. The corporation has become 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 Services, Patrick Zulu, died three a long time in the past, In line with official data. The organization was deregistered with the CIPC for failing to submit economic statements due to the fact 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the only 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 Companies Together with the CIPC. We were also not able to trace any of the company’s directors to request remark.