The accountants who helped loot the Lottery
The accountants who helped loot the Lottery
Blog Article
The Distinctive Investigating Device has discovered 5 accounting corporations that assisted loot Lottery resources. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Special Investigating Unit has determined five accounting and auditing companies that assisted non-income companies loot Lottery cash meant for “very good brings about”.
The accounting companies compiled fraudulent money statements utilized by these organizations to apply for Lottery funding, the SIU explained to Parliament.
Acting Main national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe reported the SIU would get action to obtain these companies blacklisted.
A 4-year probe by the ตรวจ สลากกินแบ่ง รัฐบาล Special Investigating Device (SIU) has exposed 5 accounting and auditing companies that served dodgy non-income companies loot many numerous rands intended for “good results in” in the Lottery.
These companies ended up explained by the SIU as “professional enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent economic statements” that were used by the companies to submit an application for Lottery funding.
The 5 businesses were being named in Parliament through 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 Services.
Fraudulent financials produced by these 5 accounting companies assisted practically forty corporations get their fingers on lottery funding, in accordance with the SIU presentation.
Based upon a Instrument containing knowledge with all lottery grants because 2002, these businesses acquired more than R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs were funded via the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) even so the money weren't used for their intended intent,” Xesibe told Parliament’s Trade, Sector and Levels of competition Portfolio Committee previous 7 days.
The SIU, the Hawks plus the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) were being in Parliament to report back to the committee on progress in bringing men and women and organisations associated with looting the lottery to e-book.
Xesibe informed GroundUp the SIU meant to lodge problems from the accounting firms concerned and was examining if these corporations have been registered and, If that is so, with which Qualified bodies.
“We want these companies being blacklisted,” she told GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was necessary to deliver two a long time of once-a-year monetary statements, Xesibe discussed in Parliament.
Even so, being an ongoing 6-calendar year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has uncovered, hijacked non-income organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-gain companies (NPCs) without any monetary track records were being utilized to make an application for funding.
In some instances, Nearly equivalent economic statements had been generated for unrelated organisations, typically with just the names from the organisations adjusted, GroundUp’s investigation uncovered.
Documents submitted by real NPCs for unsuccessful grant purposes had been usually employed by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to apply for funding. The main points and files of your unsuccessful applicants ended up provided by senior Lottery officials for the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - typically - no verification, these dodgy applicants were being awarded countless rands in grants. Sometimes additional tranches of resources had been compensated out with no Considerably checking over the progress of jobs.
The vast majority of such grants have been built through proactive funding, which was at the guts on the looting of your lottery. Proactive funding allowed the Minister of Trade, Sector and Competitiveness, or perhaps the NLC at the side of its board, to detect causes to fund without having initial requiring an application. This was stopped whenever a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants below investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi mentioned the SIU was now investigating grants valued at more than R2-billion, and also the unit was nonetheless often receiving tip-offs about a lot more corruption.
He informed MPs that the SIU’s investigation were broken into 3 phases: the first, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the next, also concluded, concerned R247-million. Inside the third phase, on account of be finalised at the conclusion of the year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Pretty much R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi reported.
He said which the SIU would utilize “shortly” to the Presidential Proclamation, initially granted in October 2020 to research corruption involving lottery grants, being extended to include procurement through the NLC.
The SIU investigation had thus far resulted in thirteen disciplinary referrals for the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Mental Homes Fee to blacklist men and women implicated in the looting. Grievances involving two individuals had been referred for the Lawful Apply Council as well as SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU had observed various trends under the former NLC board and executive - a lot of whom are actually implicated in looting - Mothibi informed MPs.
This bundled a “development of collusion between NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “general maladministration inside the approval of grants,” he stated.
Slow progress through the NPA
The SIU has frozen properties, Qualities, cars along with other belongings well worth tens of hundreds of thousands which were bought with lottery cash, but MPs expressed issue at gradual progress in prosecuting People involved in the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Recuperate property acquired with stolen point out resources and doesn't have prosecuting powers).
While the SIU has referred 15 issues to the NPA, up to now only two people have been brought just before a court docket. Two Adult men appeared in court in Kimberley lately in connection with misappropriated resources collected for any undertaking to fight gender-primarily based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight many years in jail for his aspect in the R1.5-million lottery grant fraud. Prices towards two people charged with him, who the SIU has described as “kingpins” while in the corruption that confused the NLC, were dropped.
Important-Basic Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for precedence offences, told MPs the Hawks ended up currently investigating sixteen lottery corruption-linked cases. One more just one - the Kimberley make any difference - is before a court and two have been despatched on the NPA for a choice to prosecute. An additional 5 cases are increasingly being investigated because of the SAPS detective and forensic services, he claimed.
Describing The explanations for the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Nationwide Director Rodney de Kock said Portion of The main reason was the Hawks needed to do further investigations whenever they been given dossiers in the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations undertaken from the SIU usually do not satisfy criminal requirements for prosecutions.”
Thus, the NPA experienced to operate with investigators from the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to carry out legal investigations and be sure that the proof satisfies legal prosecution expectations, he claimed, incorporating: “That said, the get the job done on the SIU is vital and contributes tremendously to this method.”
De Kock stated the SIU’s investigation “frequently ends in several referrals. The referrals may perhaps eventually bring about just one docket and a person court situation.”
He explained that 12 issues, which can be “close to eighty five% complete”, were getting jointly investigated with the Hawks as well as SIU’s Specialised Financial Operations Device. (A large number of cases, 7 of which had been lodged in 2020, contain former NLC Main functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned beneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria law firm Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock stated the NPA confronted several “problems” in prosecuting cases. These, he explained, bundled
the lapse of time among if the offences were being committed along with the issuing of your Presidential Proclamation on one November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Before this calendar year, the SIU explained to the committee that key documents necessary in some prosecutions had been deleted from the NLC Pc program or had long gone lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse where by copies of paperwork are archived and stored);
The point that some implicated people today are still used by NLC; and
A problem into the legality in the Presidential Proclamation by previous NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is dedicated to ensuring finalisation in these matters. To this conclusion, a team of devoted prosecutors is allotted to supervise all NLC issues currently below investigation,” de Kock claimed. “Issues are taken care of like a priority. After [the] investigations are concluded, the NPA is likely to make a choice.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only in the position to get comment from among the list of 5 firms accused with the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent annual monetary statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, among TTP’s two directors, mentioned in an email in reaction to queries: “As a result of shopper confidentiality, we prefer to recommend that TTP Consulting just isn't ready to disclose clientele’ economical confidential facts with the general public or media … without the consent with the client or maybe a lawful reason.”
The organization can be a “companion” of many condition entities, which include SARS as well as CIPC, according to its Web site.
Neither of The 2 directors of Dzata Accountants, who are both stated as inactive within the CIPC sign up of firms, responded to emailed questions. The company has become deregistered from the CIPC for failing to post financial statements due to the fact 2021.
The only real director of Mageba Ntuli Trading and Consulting Provider, Patrick Zulu, died 3 decades ago, In line with official data. The corporate was deregistered because of the CIPC for failing to post fiscal statements due to the fact 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the only 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 not able to trace any of the company’s administrators to request comment.