The accountants who helped loot the Lottery
The accountants who helped loot the Lottery
Blog Article
The Special Investigating Device has determined five accounting firms that aided loot Lottery resources. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Specific Investigating Device has recognized five accounting and auditing companies that assisted non-profit corporations loot Lottery funds meant for “good brings about”.
The accounting corporations compiled fraudulent financial statements employed by these companies to make an application for Lottery funding, the SIU told Parliament.
Performing chief nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe reported the SIU would just take action to possess these corporations blacklisted.
A 4-12 months probe with the หวย ออก Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered 5 accounting and auditing firms that aided dodgy non-earnings firms loot a huge selection of a lot of rands meant for “fantastic results in” in the Lottery.
These firms were described through the SIU as “Qualified enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent monetary statements” which were used by the companies to make an application for Lottery funding.
The five companies have been named in Parliament by the SIU’s performing Main nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They're TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Products and services.
Fraudulent financials made by these five accounting firms served almost forty businesses get their arms on lottery funding, based on the SIU presentation.
Depending on a Device containing knowledge with all lottery grants given that 2002, these companies received more than R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs ended up funded with the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) although the resources weren't employed for their meant purpose,” Xesibe informed Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Competitiveness Portfolio Committee previous week.
The SIU, the Hawks and also the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) were in Parliament to report to the committee on progress in bringing people and organisations involved in looting the lottery to e-book.
Xesibe told GroundUp which the SIU intended to lodge problems towards the accounting corporations involved and was examining if these firms were being registered and, if so, with which Experienced bodies.
“We want these corporations to become blacklisted,” she advised GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was required to generate two a long time of annual monetary statements, Xesibe stated in Parliament.
Having said that, as an ongoing six-calendar year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has discovered, hijacked non-gain organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-gain corporations (NPCs) without monetary keep track of information were being used to submit an application for funding.
In certain scenarios, Pretty much similar economical statements have been generated for unrelated organisations, normally with just the names from the organisations improved, GroundUp’s investigation found.
Paperwork submitted by authentic NPCs for unsuccessful grant apps ended up typically employed by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to submit an application for funding. The main points and documents of the unsuccessful applicants were equipped by senior Lottery officials to your dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - often - no verification, these dodgy applicants were being awarded millions of rands in grants. Occasionally extra tranches of cash had been paid out out with out much checking over the progress of tasks.
The vast majority of such grants ended up produced by means of proactive funding, which was at the heart in the looting on the lottery. Proactive funding permitted the Minister of Trade, Market and Competition, or the NLC at the side of its board, to determine triggers to fund with out very first requiring an software. This was stopped any time a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants under investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi stated the SIU was at the moment investigating grants valued at about R2-billion, as well as the device was nonetheless consistently receiving idea-offs about far more corruption.
He instructed MPs which the SIU’s investigation had been broken into 3 phases: the very first, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the 2nd, also finished, included R247-million. Within the third period, resulting from be finalised at the conclusion of the 12 months, the SIU is investigating grants valued at almost R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi explained.
He claimed the SIU would implement “shortly” to the Presidential Proclamation, originally granted in October 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, to get extended to incorporate procurement via the NLC.
The SIU investigation experienced to date brought about 13 disciplinary referrals to the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Intellectual Homes Commission to blacklist individuals implicated from the looting. Problems involving two people today were referred into the Lawful Observe Council and also the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU experienced observed quite a few traits under the prior NLC board and executive - most of whom have already been implicated in looting - Mothibi informed MPs.
This bundled a “pattern of collusion in between NLC officials and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “standard maladministration from the approval of grants,” he mentioned.
Slow progress with the NPA
The SIU has frozen houses, Homes, autos as well as other assets really worth tens of hundreds of thousands which were acquired with lottery resources, but MPs expressed concern at gradual development in prosecuting Individuals involved with the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get better belongings acquired with stolen point out funds and does not have prosecuting powers).
Even though the SIU has referred 15 matters to your NPA, up to now only two people have been brought ahead of a court. Two Males appeared in court in Kimberley not too long ago in connection with misappropriated resources gathered for any task to overcome gender-based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to 8 yrs in prison for his portion within a R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Costs from two men and women charged with him, who the SIU has referred to as “kingpins” within the corruption that overcome the NLC, had been dropped.
Significant-Normal Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for priority offences, informed MPs which the Hawks were now investigating 16 lottery corruption-associated situations. Another one - the Kimberley subject - is before a court and two have already been sent to your NPA for a call to prosecute. An additional five situations are now being investigated through the SAPS detective and forensic expert services, he reported.
Conveying the reasons for the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Countrywide Director Rodney de Kock explained Portion of the reason was the Hawks needed to do even further investigations after they acquired dossiers with the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations carried out because of the SIU do not satisfy legal specifications for prosecutions.”
Thus, the NPA experienced to work with investigators within the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to conduct prison investigations and make certain that the evidence satisfies legal prosecution standards, he mentioned, adding: “Having said that, the do the job of your SIU is significant and contributes enormously to this process.”
De Kock reported the SIU’s investigation “typically leads to various referrals. The referrals may well in the end result in one particular docket and 1 courtroom case.”
He explained that twelve issues, that are “somewhere around eighty five% complete”, had been getting jointly investigated with the Hawks plus the SIU’s Specialised Financial Functions Unit. (The majority of these situations, seven of which were lodged in 2020, involve previous NLC chief functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned underneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria lawyer Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock reported the NPA faced various “problems” in prosecuting conditions. These, he stated, provided
the lapse of your time concerning when the offences were dedicated and the issuing with the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary evidence” (Earlier this year, the SIU advised the committee that critical files needed in some prosecutions had been deleted in the NLC Pc program or had long gone missing from Metrofile, a warehouse in which copies of files are archived and stored);
the fact that some implicated people remain utilized by NLC; and
A obstacle into the legality on the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is dedicated to making certain finalisation in these issues. To this stop, a team of devoted prosecutors has become allotted to oversee all NLC matters at this time below investigation,” de Kock stated. “Matters are dealt with like a priority. After [the] investigations are completed, the NPA will make a call.”
What the businesses say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only able to get remark from among the list of 5 companies accused by the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent yearly monetary statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, certainly one of TTP’s two administrators, mentioned within an e mail in reaction to queries: “Because of client confidentiality, we would like to recommend that TTP Consulting just isn't ready to disclose customers’ economical confidential data with the general public or media … with no consent in the customer or simply a lawful purpose.”
The business is often a “lover” of quite a few condition entities, which include SARS plus the CIPC, In keeping with its Web-site.
Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, that are the two detailed as inactive around the CIPC sign up of firms, responded to emailed questions. The corporation is deregistered by the CIPC for failing to submit fiscal statements because 2021.
The only director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Service, Patrick Zulu, died three several years in the past, In keeping with Formal records. The business was deregistered because of the CIPC for failing to post economical statements because 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 Services While using the CIPC. We ended up also unable to trace any of the corporation’s directors to ask for remark.