The accountants who assisted loot the Lottery
The accountants who assisted loot the Lottery
Blog Article
The Particular Investigating Unit has recognized five accounting companies that assisted loot Lottery money. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Particular Investigating Unit has discovered five accounting and auditing companies that helped non-profit companies loot Lottery cash supposed for “fantastic will cause”.
The accounting companies compiled fraudulent economical statements used by these businesses to submit an application for Lottery funding, the SIU instructed Parliament.
Performing Main national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe stated the SIU would consider motion to get these corporations blacklisted.
A 4-yr probe by the ตรวจ หวย ล่าสุด Unique Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered five accounting and auditing companies that helped dodgy non-earnings organizations loot countless numerous rands meant for “great causes” with the Lottery.
These firms were being explained from the SIU as “Experienced enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent financial statements” that were utilized by the businesses to apply for Lottery funding.
The five firms have been named in Parliament because of the SIU’s performing chief national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They may be TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Solutions.
Fraudulent financials made by these five accounting companies aided almost 40 corporations get their arms on lottery funding, in accordance with the SIU presentation.
Determined by a Instrument made up of knowledge with all lottery grants since 2002, these companies acquired around R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs have been funded because of the Countrywide Lotteries Fee (NLC) even so the cash weren't utilized for his or her meant intent,” Xesibe informed Parliament’s Trade, Marketplace and Levels of competition Portfolio Committee past week.
The SIU, the Hawks along with the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) ended up in Parliament to report to the committee on development in bringing people today and organisations involved with looting the lottery to reserve.
Xesibe instructed GroundUp that the SIU intended to lodge issues towards the accounting corporations involved and was checking if these firms ended up registered and, If that's the case, with which professional bodies.
“We want these corporations to be blacklisted,” she told GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was necessary to develop two decades of once-a-year economical statements, Xesibe stated in Parliament.
However, being an ongoing 6-12 months investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has discovered, hijacked non-income organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-revenue companies (NPCs) without having money monitor data were being utilized to apply for funding.
In a few cases, Nearly identical economic statements were made for unrelated organisations, generally with only the names in the organisations improved, GroundUp’s investigation found.
Files submitted by authentic NPCs for unsuccessful grant apps ended up generally employed by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to make an application for funding. The main points and paperwork on the unsuccessful applicants have been supplied by senior Lottery officers for the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - usually - no verification, these dodgy applicants were awarded countless rands in grants. At times extra tranches of cash have been compensated out with out Substantially examining on the progress of tasks.
The vast majority of those grants were being produced by way of proactive funding, which was at the center of your looting in the lottery. Proactive funding permitted the Minister of Trade, Marketplace and Competitors, or the NLC in conjunction with its board, to detect will cause to fund devoid of 1st requiring an software. This was stopped each time a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants below investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi said the SIU was now investigating grants valued at about R2-billion, as well as the device was nonetheless consistently getting suggestion-offs about much more corruption.
He instructed 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 next, also accomplished, included R247-million. In the third phase, as a result of be finalised at the end of the yr, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Just about R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi said.
He said which the SIU would implement “before long” for the Presidential Proclamation, originally granted in October 2020 to analyze corruption involving lottery grants, being extended to include procurement because of the NLC.
The SIU investigation had thus far led to 13 disciplinary referrals towards the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Mental Homes Fee to blacklist people implicated during the looting. Complaints involving two men and women were referred to the Legal Practice Council as well as the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU had observed numerous developments under the prior NLC board and govt - a lot of whom have already been implicated in looting - Mothibi told MPs.
This bundled a “pattern of collusion between NLC officials and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “typical maladministration while in the acceptance of grants,” he mentioned.
Gradual progress by the NPA
The SIU has frozen residences, Qualities, autos and also other assets value tens of tens of millions which were acquired with lottery resources, but MPs expressed concern at gradual development in prosecuting These associated with the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get well property bought with stolen state resources and doesn't have prosecuting powers).
Even though the SIU has referred 15 issues to your NPA, to date only two people have been introduced ahead of a court. Two Adult men appeared in court in Kimberley a short while ago in connection with misappropriated cash collected for the venture to beat gender-primarily based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight decades in prison for his element in a very R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Charges towards two persons billed with him, who the SIU has described as “kingpins” inside the corruption that overcome the NLC, were being dropped.
Main-Standard Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for priority offences, informed MPs the Hawks have been at this time investigating 16 lottery corruption-associated instances. Yet another 1 - the Kimberley make any difference - is ahead of a court docket and two have been despatched towards the NPA for a call to prosecute. An additional 5 situations are being investigated with the SAPS detective and forensic providers, he reported.
Describing The explanations for the hold off in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock explained part of The main reason was which the Hawks had to do even further investigations after they gained dossiers from the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations carried out by the SIU usually do not fulfill legal benchmarks for prosecutions.”
Hence, the NPA experienced to work with investigators in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to perform legal investigations and be certain that the evidence satisfies prison prosecution benchmarks, he said, adding: “Having said that, the perform from the SIU is important and contributes drastically to this method.”
De Kock stated the SIU’s investigation “often leads to many referrals. The referrals might in the long run bring about one docket and 1 court situation.”
He claimed that twelve matters, which are “around 85% full”, were becoming jointly investigated via the Hawks and the SIU’s Specialised Financial Functions Unit. (Most of these circumstances, seven of which were lodged in 2020, contain former NLC Main working officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned below a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria attorney Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock stated the NPA faced various “problems” in prosecuting instances. These, he claimed, incorporated
the lapse of your time between if the offences were being committed plus the issuing of the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary evidence” (Earlier this year, the SIU instructed the committee that vital files desired in certain prosecutions had been deleted in the NLC Pc method or experienced absent lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse the place copies of documents are archived and stored);
The point that some implicated men and women remain employed by NLC; and
A problem to the legality in 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 supervise all NLC issues now less than investigation,” de Kock stated. “Matters are handled as being a priority. Once [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 5 firms accused through the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent yearly financial statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, amongst TTP’s two directors, stated within an electronic mail in response to inquiries: “Because of shopper confidentiality, we would like to recommend that TTP Consulting is just not prepared to disclose clientele’ financial confidential facts with the general public or media … with no consent from the customer or a legal purpose.”
The business is often a “lover” of quite a few condition entities, like SARS along with the CIPC, As outlined by its Web page.
Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, who are both stated as inactive about the CIPC register of corporations, responded to emailed concerns. The corporation has become deregistered by the CIPC for failing to submit economic statements considering the fact that 2021.
The sole director of Mageba Ntuli Trading and Consulting Support, Patrick Zulu, died 3 decades back, Based on official documents. The company was deregistered by the CIPC for failing to post economical statements since 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the only real director of Magodi Consultants, didn't respond to issues emailed to him.
GroundUp was not able to discover any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Solutions Using the CIPC. We ended up also not able to trace any of the corporation’s directors to ask for remark.