The accountants who assisted loot the Lottery
The accountants who assisted loot the Lottery
Blog Article
The Unique Investigating Unit has recognized 5 accounting companies that helped loot Lottery cash. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Particular Investigating Device has identified five accounting and auditing companies that helped non-profit corporations loot Lottery cash meant for “superior leads to”.
The accounting companies compiled fraudulent economical statements employed by these businesses to make an application for Lottery funding, the SIU advised Parliament.
Acting chief countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe said the SIU would consider action to own these companies blacklisted.
A four-year probe from the หวย วัน นี้ Unique Investigating Unit (SIU) has exposed five accounting and auditing firms that assisted dodgy non-income providers loot many hundreds of countless rands meant for “great leads to” from the Lottery.
These corporations have been described because of the SIU as “Specialist enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent economic statements” which were used by the companies to submit an application for Lottery funding.
The 5 firms were named in Parliament with the SIU’s performing Main national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They may be TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Services.
Fraudulent financials produced by these five accounting corporations served almost 40 businesses get their hands on lottery funding, according to the SIU presentation.
According to a Instrument containing details with all lottery grants since 2002, these companies bought in excess of R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs have been funded from the Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) though the money weren't employed for his or her intended reason,” Xesibe told Parliament’s Trade, Marketplace and Opposition Portfolio Committee past week.
The SIU, the Hawks as well as National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) ended up in Parliament to report back to the committee on progress in bringing men and women and organisations linked to looting the lottery to book.
Xesibe instructed GroundUp that the SIU intended to lodge complaints towards the accounting companies involved and was checking if these corporations were registered and, If that's so, with which Skilled bodies.
“We want these firms to get blacklisted,” she advised GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was required to deliver two yrs of annual financial statements, Xesibe spelled out in Parliament.
Nevertheless, being an ongoing six-year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has uncovered, hijacked non-profit organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-profit corporations (NPCs) with no money keep track of records ended up utilized to make an application for funding.
In certain situations, Just about equivalent monetary statements have been produced for unrelated organisations, frequently with only the names in the organisations adjusted, GroundUp’s investigation uncovered.
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 details and paperwork in the unsuccessful applicants were being supplied by senior Lottery officers to your dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - generally - no verification, these dodgy applicants ended up awarded a lot of rands in grants. Sometimes additional tranches of resources were paid out without having Considerably examining within the development of initiatives.
The vast majority of such grants ended up created by using proactive funding, which was at the heart with the looting of your lottery. Proactive funding authorized the Minister of Trade, Business and Competitors, or even the NLC together with its board, to establish results in to fund devoid of 1st requiring an software. This was stopped whenever a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants underneath investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi stated the SIU was at this time investigating grants valued at over R2-billion, along with the device was continue to frequently getting tip-offs about a lot more corruption.
He advised MPs the SIU’s investigation had been broken into three phases: the primary, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the next, also finished, involved R247-million. While in the third phase, because of be finalised at the conclusion of the 12 months, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Practically R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi claimed.
He mentioned which the SIU would use “before long” for your Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in Oct 2020 to research corruption involving lottery grants, to generally be extended to include procurement from the NLC.
The SIU investigation experienced so far resulted in 13 disciplinary referrals on the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Intellectual Attributes Fee to blacklist folks implicated from the looting. Problems involving two folks were referred into the Lawful Practice Council plus the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU experienced observed numerous developments under the prior NLC board and executive - lots of whom are actually implicated in looting - Mothibi told MPs.
This integrated a “development of collusion concerning NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “normal maladministration inside the acceptance of grants,” he claimed.
Slow progress by the NPA
The SIU has frozen residences, Qualities, autos along with other property truly worth tens of hundreds of thousands that were bought with lottery funds, but MPs expressed concern at slow development in prosecuting Those people linked to the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get better belongings purchased with stolen state resources and doesn't have prosecuting powers).
Although the SIU has referred 15 issues for the NPA, up to now only two folks have been brought prior to a court docket. Two Gentlemen appeared in court in Kimberley a short while ago in connection with misappropriated cash collected for the project to battle gender-based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight decades in jail for his element in a very R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Costs in opposition to two persons billed with him, who the SIU has described as “kingpins” from the corruption that confused the NLC, were being dropped.
Major-Common Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for precedence offences, instructed MPs the Hawks have been at present investigating 16 lottery corruption-related conditions. A further just one - the Kimberley issue - is just before a court docket and two are already sent to your NPA for a decision to prosecute. An additional 5 circumstances are increasingly being investigated from the SAPS detective and forensic expert services, he stated.
Outlining The explanations for the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock mentioned Component of the reason was which the Hawks needed to do further more investigations once they obtained dossiers from your SIU.
“In essence, the investigations undertaken by the SIU do not fulfill legal specifications for prosecutions.”
Consequently, the NPA experienced to work with investigators in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to perform criminal investigations and ensure that the proof meets prison prosecution expectations, he mentioned, introducing: “That said, the do the job on the SIU is essential and contributes enormously to this process.”
De Kock claimed that the SIU’s investigation “generally brings about several referrals. The referrals may well ultimately lead to a single docket and one particular courtroom scenario.”
He claimed that twelve matters, that are “somewhere around eighty five% full”, had been becoming jointly investigated from the Hawks as well as the SIU’s Specialised Financial Functions Unit. (Many of these instances, 7 of which had been lodged in 2020, contain former NLC Main working officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned below a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria law firm Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock claimed the NPA faced quite a few “problems” in prosecuting cases. These, he mentioned, integrated
the lapse of your time amongst once the offences were being committed along with the issuing of your Presidential Proclamation on one November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Previously this calendar year, the SIU advised the committee that critical files needed in certain prosecutions were deleted through the NLC Computer system technique or had gone lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse in which copies of files are archived and stored);
The reality that some implicated people are still used by NLC; and
A challenge to your legality from the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is devoted to guaranteeing finalisation in these issues. To this conclusion, a workforce of dedicated prosecutors is allocated to oversee all NLC matters presently below investigation,” de Kock stated. “Issues are taken care of to be a precedence. After [the] investigations are accomplished, the NPA can make a call.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable of get comment from on the list of five businesses accused via the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent once-a-year monetary statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, amongst TTP’s two directors, claimed within an email in response to thoughts: “As a result of customer confidentiality, we wish to advise that TTP Consulting just isn't ready to divulge consumers’ money private information and facts with the general public or media … with no consent with the customer or maybe a authorized cause.”
The business is actually a “companion” of a number of point out entities, like SARS as well as the CIPC, Based on its Web-site.
Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, who are equally outlined as inactive to the CIPC register of organizations, responded to emailed thoughts. The organization has actually been deregistered by the CIPC for failing to submit monetary statements due to the fact 2021.
The only real director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Company, Patrick Zulu, died a few yrs in the past, As outlined by official information. The corporate was deregistered from the CIPC for failing to submit financial statements given that 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the sole director of Magodi Consultants, didn't reply to queries emailed to him.
GroundUp was unable to obtain any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Products and services Along with the CIPC. We had been also struggling to trace any of the business’s administrators to request comment.