The accountants who aided loot the Lottery
The accountants who aided loot the Lottery
Blog Article
The Specific Investigating Device has discovered five accounting firms that aided loot Lottery funds. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Distinctive Investigating Unit has determined 5 accounting and auditing firms that assisted non-gain corporations loot Lottery cash meant for “superior triggers”.
The accounting companies compiled fraudulent money statements employed by these companies to apply for Lottery funding, the SIU informed Parliament.
Acting Main countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe reported the SIU would choose motion to get these firms blacklisted.
A 4-12 months probe with the สลาก กิน Exclusive Investigating Device (SIU) has uncovered five accounting and auditing firms that helped dodgy non-earnings firms loot many a lot of rands intended for “very good triggers” from your Lottery.
These corporations ended up described via the SIU as “Qualified enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent economic statements” which were utilized by the businesses to apply for Lottery funding.
The five corporations had been named in Parliament because of the SIU’s performing chief national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. These are TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Solutions.
Fraudulent financials produced by these five accounting firms helped practically 40 firms get their palms on lottery funding, based on the SIU presentation.
Based upon a Resource that contains knowledge with all lottery grants considering that 2002, these firms acquired above R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs had been funded via the Nationwide Lotteries Commission (NLC) although the money weren't utilized for his or her intended function,” Xesibe told Parliament’s Trade, Marketplace and Competitiveness Portfolio Committee last week.
The SIU, the Hawks plus the Countrywide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) were in Parliament to report to the committee on progress in bringing folks and organisations involved with looting the lottery to e book.
Xesibe explained to GroundUp which the SIU meant to lodge issues from the accounting companies concerned and was checking if these companies were registered and, If that is so, with which professional bodies.
“We wish these businesses to be blacklisted,” she advised GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was required to make two decades of once-a-year money statements, Xesibe discussed in Parliament.
Nonetheless, being an ongoing six-12 months investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has exposed, hijacked non-profit organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-income businesses (NPCs) with no fiscal track information ended up utilized to make an application for funding.
In certain instances, Virtually similar fiscal statements ended up produced for unrelated organisations, often with just the names on the organisations modified, GroundUp’s investigation discovered.
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 your unsuccessful applicants have been provided by senior Lottery officers towards the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - typically - no verification, these dodgy applicants were being awarded countless rands in grants. Often more tranches of cash ended up paid out out devoid of A great deal examining to the development of assignments.
The vast majority of such grants ended up designed through proactive funding, which was at the heart of your looting on the lottery. Proactive funding allowed the Minister of Trade, Marketplace and Competition, or perhaps the NLC together with its board, to establish leads to to fund without the need of very first necessitating an software. This was stopped when a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants beneath investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi reported the SIU was presently investigating grants valued at above R2-billion, plus the device was however consistently acquiring idea-offs about additional corruption.
He instructed MPs the SIU’s investigation had been damaged into 3 phases: the primary, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the 2nd, also concluded, concerned R247-million. Within the 3rd phase, due to be finalised at the end of the year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Just about R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi claimed.
He said the SIU would utilize “soon” to the Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in Oct 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, for being prolonged to incorporate procurement via the NLC.
The SIU investigation experienced up to now resulted in 13 disciplinary referrals towards the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Intellectual Properties Fee to blacklist people today implicated during the looting. Issues involving two men and women had been referred to the Lawful Exercise Council along with the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU had noticed many trends underneath the earlier NLC board and govt - a lot of whom happen to be implicated in looting - Mothibi explained to MPs.
This incorporated a “development of collusion among NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “general maladministration inside the acceptance of grants,” he reported.
Slow progress with the NPA
The SIU has frozen residences, Attributes, cars and also other property value tens of thousands and thousands which were purchased with lottery funds, but MPs expressed concern at gradual development in prosecuting Individuals associated with the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to recover belongings bought with stolen point out money and doesn't have prosecuting powers).
When the SIU has referred 15 issues towards the NPA, to this point only two individuals have been introduced ahead of a court docket. Two Gentlemen appeared in court docket in Kimberley just lately in reference to misappropriated funds collected for your venture to overcome gender-centered violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight a long time in prison for his portion inside of a R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Charges towards two folks charged with him, who the SIU has described as “kingpins” within the corruption that overwhelmed the NLC, were dropped.
Important-Typical Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for priority offences, told MPs which the Hawks have been at present investigating sixteen lottery corruption-linked situations. Yet another one - the Kimberley subject - is just before a court docket and two have already been despatched towards the NPA for a choice to prosecute. An extra 5 circumstances are now being investigated by the SAPS detective and forensic companies, he claimed.
Explaining The explanations for the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock said A part of The explanation was that the Hawks had to do further investigations once they received dossiers from the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations carried out with the SIU usually do not fulfill felony specifications for prosecutions.”
Therefore, the NPA experienced to operate with investigators while in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to conduct legal investigations and ensure that the evidence satisfies prison prosecution expectations, he reported, including: “That said, the get the job done of the SIU is vital and contributes enormously to this method.”
De Kock stated which the SIU’s investigation “generally leads to numerous referrals. The referrals may perhaps in the long run lead to one docket and just one court scenario.”
He stated that 12 issues, which can be “close to 85% comprehensive”, were being getting jointly investigated because of the Hawks as well as the SIU’s Specialised Economic Operations Unit. (These types of cases, 7 of which were lodged in 2020, involve previous NLC Main running officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned underneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria attorney Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock explained the NPA faced numerous “difficulties” in prosecuting instances. These, he said, bundled
the lapse of time in between in the event the offences have been committed as well as issuing on the Presidential Proclamation on one November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary evidence” (Previously this year, the SIU advised the committee that key paperwork desired in some prosecutions had been deleted with the NLC Pc technique or experienced long gone lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse where copies of documents are archived and stored);
The truth that some implicated men and women are still utilized by NLC; and
A challenge towards the legality in the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to making sure finalisation in these issues. To this conclude, a crew of devoted prosecutors continues to be allotted to oversee all NLC matters now underneath investigation,” de Kock mentioned. “Issues are managed as being a precedence. When [the] investigations are done, the NPA is likely to make a call.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only ready to get comment from among the list of 5 organizations accused because of the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent annual economic statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, amongst TTP’s two administrators, said in an email in reaction to questions: “As a result of consumer confidentiality, we desire to suggest that TTP Consulting just isn't willing to disclose shoppers’ money confidential details with the general public or media … with no consent in the client or simply a authorized reason.”
The corporation can be a “companion” of quite a few state entities, together with SARS as well as the CIPC, according to its Internet site.
Neither of The 2 administrators of Dzata Accountants, who are the two shown as inactive over the CIPC register of businesses, responded to emailed inquiries. The corporate has been deregistered through the CIPC for failing to post economical statements given that 2021.
The only director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Service, Patrick Zulu, died three many years in the past, As outlined by Formal 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 thoughts emailed to him.
GroundUp was struggling to obtain any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Services with the CIPC. We ended up also not able to trace any of the organization’s administrators to ask for remark.