The Special Investigating Device has recognized 5 accounting companies that aided loot Lottery cash. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Special Investigating Unit has identified five accounting and auditing firms that helped non-financial gain organizations loot Lottery dollars meant for “superior brings about”.
The accounting companies compiled fraudulent economical statements used by these businesses to apply for Lottery funding, the SIU instructed Parliament.
Performing chief nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe mentioned the SIU would choose motion to acquire these companies blacklisted.
A four-calendar year probe with the หวย วัน นี้ Unique Investigating Device (SIU) has exposed 5 accounting and auditing companies that served dodgy non-financial gain firms loot numerous millions of rands meant for “excellent results in” from the Lottery.
These corporations were explained through the SIU as “Experienced enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent monetary statements” which were used by the businesses to apply for Lottery funding.
The five corporations were being named in Parliament by the SIU’s acting Main countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. These are TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Solutions.
Fraudulent financials made by these 5 accounting firms helped approximately forty providers get their palms on lottery funding, according to the SIU presentation.
Based on a Resource containing details with all lottery grants considering that 2002, these corporations obtained more than R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs have been funded with the Nationwide Lotteries Commission (NLC) though the funds were not applied for his or her meant intent,” Xesibe informed Parliament’s Trade, Field and Opposition Portfolio Committee previous week.
The SIU, the Hawks along with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) were being in Parliament to report to the committee on development in bringing people today and organisations associated with looting the lottery to ebook.
Xesibe told GroundUp the SIU meant to lodge grievances in opposition to the accounting corporations involved and was checking if these corporations have been registered and, If that's the case, with which Specialist bodies.
“We wish these businesses to be blacklisted,” she explained to GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was necessary to create two yrs of annual economical statements, Xesibe described in Parliament.
However, being an ongoing 6-calendar year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has revealed, hijacked non-profit organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-earnings companies (NPCs) with no financial observe data had been utilized to make an application for funding.
In some instances, almost similar economic statements were generated for unrelated organisations, frequently with only the names on the organisations improved, GroundUp’s investigation found.
Files submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant programs have been generally utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to apply for funding. The details and files on the unsuccessful applicants have been supplied by senior Lottery officers into the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - generally - no verification, these dodgy applicants have been awarded an incredible number of rands in grants. At times additional tranches of money were paid out out without the need of Substantially checking to the development of projects.
The overwhelming majority of those grants ended up built by using proactive funding, which was at the heart in the looting with the lottery. Proactive funding authorized the Minister of Trade, Field and Competitiveness, or maybe the NLC in conjunction with its board, to determine triggers to fund devoid of initially necessitating an software. This was stopped every time a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants below investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi reported the SIU was at the moment investigating grants valued at in excess of R2-billion, along with the device was however routinely obtaining tip-offs about far more corruption.
He explained to MPs that the SIU’s investigation had been broken into 3 phases: the main, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the second, also concluded, included R247-million. Inside the third stage, as a result of be finalised at the end of the calendar year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Just about R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi reported.
He explained which the SIU would use “shortly” to the Presidential Proclamation, originally granted in Oct 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, to be extended to incorporate procurement by the NLC.
The SIU investigation had thus far led to 13 disciplinary referrals to your NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Intellectual Houses Commission to blacklist men and women implicated during the looting. Grievances involving two people today had been referred on the Lawful Apply Council as well as SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU had noticed numerous developments beneath the previous NLC board and executive - a lot of whom are implicated in looting - Mothibi explained to MPs.
This bundled a “development of collusion between NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “typical maladministration during the acceptance of grants,” he explained.
Sluggish progress because of the NPA
The SIU has frozen residences, Houses, automobiles and other property well worth tens of hundreds of thousands which were bought with lottery resources, but MPs expressed worry at slow progress in prosecuting These linked to the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Recuperate property acquired with stolen state money and does not have prosecuting powers).
Even though the SIU has referred fifteen issues to the NPA, thus far only two people have been introduced ahead of a courtroom. Two Adult males appeared in court docket in Kimberley recently in connection with misappropriated money gathered for a project to beat gender-dependent violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight decades in prison for his portion within a R1.5-million lottery grant fraud. Charges against two individuals billed with him, who the SIU has referred to as “kingpins” in the corruption that overcome the NLC, had been dropped.
Major-Standard Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for priority offences, explained to MPs that the Hawks have been presently investigating 16 lottery corruption-related situations. A further a single - the Kimberley issue - is ahead of a court and two are already sent towards the NPA for a decision to prosecute. An extra 5 situations are increasingly being investigated with the SAPS detective and forensic expert services, he reported.
Conveying the reasons to the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock claimed Section of The main reason was which the Hawks had to do even further investigations after they gained dossiers in the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations undertaken by the SIU usually do not fulfill felony benchmarks for prosecutions.”
Therefore, the NPA experienced to operate with investigators while in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to perform felony investigations and be sure that the evidence meets prison prosecution standards, he stated, adding: “Having said that, the do the job with the SIU is crucial and contributes considerably to this process.”
De Kock said which the SIU’s investigation “typically brings about a number of referrals. The referrals may possibly eventually result in just one docket and a single court docket case.”
He stated that 12 matters, which might be “approximately eighty five% finish”, were getting jointly investigated with the Hawks along with the SIU’s Specialised Financial Operations Device. (A large number of conditions, seven of which had been lodged in 2020, include former NLC Main running officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned below a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria lawyer Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock mentioned the NPA faced several “challenges” in prosecuting instances. These, he said, bundled
the lapse of time between if the offences had been dedicated and the issuing of your Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary evidence” (Previously this yr, the SIU explained to the committee that important paperwork desired in some prosecutions had been deleted from your NLC Computer system method or had long gone lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse wherever copies of files are archived and stored);
The truth that some implicated men and women are still employed by NLC; and
A obstacle to your legality on the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is devoted to ensuring finalisation in these issues. To this end, a team of focused prosecutors has become allocated to supervise all NLC issues at this time beneath investigation,” de Kock said. “Matters are managed as a priority. When [the] investigations are concluded, the NPA will make a call.”
What the businesses say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable of get comment from one of several five organizations accused because of the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent yearly fiscal statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, considered one of TTP’s two directors, stated within an e-mail in reaction to inquiries: “Resulting from client confidentiality, we prefer to advise that TTP Consulting will not be willing to divulge consumers’ financial confidential information and facts with the general public or media … without the consent in the shopper or perhaps a authorized explanation.”
The corporation is a “companion” of numerous state entities, which includes SARS along with the CIPC, according to its Site.
Neither of The 2 administrators of Dzata Accountants, who're the two detailed as inactive about the CIPC register of companies, responded to emailed thoughts. The organization continues to be deregistered by the CIPC for failing to submit money statements given that 2021.
The only director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Services, Patrick Zulu, died three yrs back, Based on Formal data. The company was deregistered from the CIPC for failing to submit financial statements given that 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the sole director of Magodi Consultants, did not reply to inquiries emailed to him.
GroundUp was unable to discover any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Solutions Using the CIPC. We were being also struggling to trace any of the business’s administrators to request comment.