The accountants who aided loot the Lottery
The accountants who aided loot the Lottery
Blog Article
The Unique Investigating Unit has identified five accounting corporations that helped loot Lottery cash. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Special Investigating Unit has determined 5 accounting and auditing corporations that helped non-earnings companies loot Lottery funds supposed for “great causes”.
The accounting corporations compiled fraudulent money statements utilized by these businesses to submit an application for Lottery funding, the SIU explained to Parliament.
Acting chief national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe claimed the SIU would take motion to acquire these firms blacklisted.
A 4-yr probe from the ตรวจ รางวัล Particular Investigating Unit (SIU) has exposed 5 accounting and auditing companies that assisted dodgy non-earnings organizations loot numerous numerous rands designed for “fantastic brings about” from your Lottery.
These corporations have been explained through the SIU as “professional enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent fiscal statements” which were used by the companies to submit an application for Lottery funding.
The 5 organizations ended up named in Parliament by the SIU’s acting chief national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They can be TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Products and services.
Fraudulent financials made by these 5 accounting companies aided virtually 40 firms get their fingers on lottery funding, according to the SIU presentation.
According to a tool made up of facts with all lottery grants due to the fact 2002, these firms received over R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs were being funded with the Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) though the money were not made use of for their meant intent,” Xesibe informed Parliament’s Trade, Marketplace and Opposition Portfolio Committee past 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 folks and organisations associated with looting the lottery to ebook.
Xesibe advised GroundUp the SIU intended to lodge problems versus the accounting companies concerned and was examining if these companies have been registered and, If that's the case, with which professional bodies.
“We wish these organizations to become blacklisted,” she explained to GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was necessary to deliver two several years of once-a-year economic statements, Xesibe explained in Parliament.
On the other hand, being an ongoing 6-yr investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has discovered, hijacked non-profit organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-earnings corporations (NPCs) without having financial track records were used to apply for funding.
In certain scenarios, Pretty much equivalent fiscal statements have been made for unrelated organisations, usually with just the names with the organisations transformed, GroundUp’s investigation identified.
Files submitted by real NPCs for unsuccessful grant purposes have been often utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to submit an application for funding. The details and paperwork of the unsuccessful applicants have been provided by senior Lottery officers to the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - usually - no verification, these dodgy applicants ended up awarded millions of rands in grants. At times more tranches of cash were being compensated out without the need of much examining over the development of assignments.
The vast majority of these grants were being designed by means of proactive funding, which was at the heart of the looting of your lottery. Proactive funding permitted the Minister of Trade, Business and Competition, or perhaps the NLC together with its board, to detect brings about to fund with out initially demanding an application. This was stopped each time a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants less than investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi said the SIU was at the moment investigating grants valued at about R2-billion, and the unit was nonetheless routinely getting tip-offs about much more corruption.
He informed MPs that the SIU’s investigation were broken into three phases: the very first, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the next, also finished, involved R247-million. During the third phase, resulting from be finalised at the end of the calendar year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Practically R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi explained.
He said the SIU would utilize “soon” to the Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in October 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, being prolonged to incorporate procurement through the NLC.
The SIU investigation had to date brought about thirteen disciplinary referrals into the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Mental Attributes Fee to blacklist people today implicated during the looting. Problems involving two people today were referred on the Legal Practice Council and the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU experienced observed several tendencies under the previous NLC board and government - many of whom are actually implicated in looting - Mothibi advised MPs.
This included a “pattern of collusion between NLC officials and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “normal maladministration inside the acceptance of grants,” he reported.
Slow progress with the NPA
The SIU has frozen households, properties, vehicles together with other belongings truly worth tens of tens of millions which were purchased with lottery money, 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 money and doesn't have prosecuting powers).
When the SIU has referred 15 issues on the NPA, up to now only two folks have been brought right before a courtroom. Two Adult males appeared in court in Kimberley a short while ago in connection with misappropriated cash gathered to get a job to combat gender-based mostly violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his portion within a R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Expenses from two persons charged with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” within the corruption that overcome the NLC, were being dropped.
Main-General Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for precedence offences, instructed MPs that the Hawks had been currently investigating sixteen lottery corruption-related cases. Another a person - the Kimberley make any difference - is right before a courtroom and two are sent towards the NPA for a call to prosecute. An additional five conditions are now being investigated via the SAPS detective and forensic expert services, he stated.
Conveying The explanations to the hold off in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Countrywide Director Rodney de Kock mentioned Element of The main reason was that the Hawks had to do more investigations if they gained dossiers with the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations carried out with the SIU usually do not satisfy prison criteria for prosecutions.”
For that reason, the NPA had to operate with investigators inside the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to perform legal investigations and make certain that the proof meets felony prosecution requirements, he claimed, adding: “That said, the work in the SIU is crucial and contributes tremendously to this process.”
De Kock claimed which the SIU’s investigation “often leads to several referrals. The referrals may possibly in the long run bring about a person docket and one court docket circumstance.”
He claimed that 12 matters, which are “approximately eighty five% full”, had been being jointly investigated via the Hawks along with the SIU’s Specialised Economic Functions Device. (The majority of these cases, seven of which ended up lodged in 2020, involve former NLC chief running officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned under a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria lawyer Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock explained the NPA confronted quite a few “challenges” in prosecuting circumstances. These, he explained, involved
the lapse of your time involving if the offences ended up dedicated along with the issuing in the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Previously this year, the SIU explained to the committee that critical documents needed in a few prosecutions had been deleted with the NLC Laptop method or experienced long gone missing from Metrofile, a warehouse where by copies of documents are archived and stored);
The point that some implicated folks remain used by NLC; and
A obstacle for the legality with the Presidential Proclamation by previous NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is dedicated to making sure finalisation in these issues. To this finish, a group of devoted prosecutors has actually been allotted to oversee all NLC matters presently below investigation,” de Kock stated. “Issues are taken care of for a priority. As soon as [the] investigations are completed, the NPA could make a choice.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only able to get remark from one of many 5 firms accused from the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent once-a-year fiscal statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, certainly one of TTP’s two directors, reported in an e-mail in reaction to thoughts: “As a result of customer confidentiality, we need to advise that TTP Consulting isn't ready to divulge clientele’ fiscal private facts with the general public or media … without the consent in the client or perhaps a legal reason.”
The company is usually a “lover” of many state entities, including SARS as well as CIPC, As outlined by its Site.
Neither of The 2 administrators of Dzata Accountants, who're both of those detailed as inactive on the CIPC register of corporations, responded to emailed questions. The business has long been deregistered through the CIPC for failing to submit fiscal statements considering the fact that 2021.
The only real director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Company, Patrick Zulu, died a few decades back, In keeping with Formal information. The organization was deregistered through the CIPC for failing to post money statements due to the fact 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the only director of Magodi Consultants, didn't respond to questions emailed to him.
GroundUp was not able to discover any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Services Along with the CIPC. We were also not able to trace any of the company’s directors to ask for comment.