The accountants who helped loot the Lottery
The accountants who helped loot the Lottery
Blog Article
The Special Investigating Device has determined five accounting companies that assisted loot Lottery funds. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Special Investigating Unit has identified five accounting and auditing firms that assisted non-profit corporations loot Lottery money intended for “great brings about”.
The accounting companies compiled fraudulent financial statements employed by these firms to make an application for Lottery funding, the SIU told Parliament.
Performing chief national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe claimed the SIU would just take motion to acquire these firms blacklisted.
A 4-calendar year probe with the ตรวจ หวย รัฐบาล Exclusive Investigating Unit (SIU) has exposed 5 accounting and auditing corporations that assisted dodgy non-earnings corporations loot countless countless rands meant for “superior will cause” in the Lottery.
These companies ended up explained with the SIU as “professional enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent monetary statements” that were utilized by the companies to apply for Lottery funding.
The five businesses had been named in Parliament from the SIU’s performing 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 produced by these 5 accounting firms assisted almost 40 providers get their hands on lottery funding, based on the SIU presentation.
Depending on a Instrument that contains facts with all lottery grants given that 2002, these firms got above R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs were being funded from the Nationwide Lotteries Commission (NLC) although the funds were not utilized for their intended objective,” Xesibe told Parliament’s Trade, Marketplace and Competition Portfolio Committee very last 7 days.
The SIU, the Hawks and also the Countrywide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have been in Parliament to report back to the committee on progress in bringing persons and organisations involved in looting the lottery to e book.
Xesibe informed GroundUp the SIU meant to lodge problems towards the accounting companies included and was checking if these companies have been registered and, If that is so, with which Qualified bodies.
“We would like these organizations to become blacklisted,” she told GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was needed to generate two years of yearly monetary statements, Xesibe explained in Parliament.
Having said that, as an ongoing 6-year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has discovered, hijacked non-revenue organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-gain organizations (NPCs) without financial observe data were being used to make an application for funding.
In a few scenarios, Just about equivalent money statements ended up manufactured for unrelated organisations, normally with just the names on the organisations adjusted, GroundUp’s investigation located.
Documents submitted by legitimate NPCs for unsuccessful grant purposes were being typically utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to submit an application for funding. The small print and documents with the unsuccessful applicants had been provided by senior Lottery officers towards the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - generally - no verification, these dodgy applicants had been awarded millions of rands in grants. From time to time additional tranches of money were being compensated out with out Substantially examining to the development of assignments.
The vast majority of these grants had been manufactured by means of proactive funding, which was at the center on the looting on the lottery. Proactive funding permitted the Minister of Trade, Business and Opposition, or the NLC at the side of its board, to discover leads to to fund without to start with necessitating an software. This was stopped whenever a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants less than investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi mentioned the SIU was currently investigating grants valued at in excess of R2-billion, and also the unit was however regularly receiving idea-offs about much more corruption.
He advised MPs which the SIU’s investigation had been broken into 3 phases: the first, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the next, also done, involved R247-million. Within the third section, due to be finalised at the end of the 12 months, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Pretty much R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi claimed.
He explained which the SIU would implement “quickly” for the Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in Oct 2020 to research corruption involving lottery grants, being extended to incorporate procurement via the NLC.
The SIU investigation had so far brought about thirteen disciplinary referrals for the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Intellectual Houses Fee to blacklist folks implicated from the looting. Problems involving two people were referred to the Lawful Observe Council and also the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU had noticed quite a few traits beneath the earlier NLC board and executive - lots of whom are implicated in looting - Mothibi advised MPs.
This integrated a “craze of collusion among NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “basic maladministration in the acceptance of grants,” he said.
Slow progress from the NPA
The SIU has frozen homes, Houses, vehicles and other property worthy of tens of millions that were bought with lottery money, but MPs expressed concern at sluggish development in prosecuting Individuals involved with the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get better belongings purchased with stolen state cash and does not have prosecuting powers).
While the SIU has referred 15 matters into the NPA, up to now only two individuals have been introduced prior to a courtroom. Two Adult men appeared in courtroom in Kimberley a short while ago in reference to misappropriated cash gathered for any undertaking to fight gender-based mostly violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight many years in prison for his aspect in the R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Prices in opposition to two folks billed with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” inside the corruption that overwhelmed the NLC, had been dropped.
Important-Standard Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for priority offences, advised MPs the Hawks ended up presently investigating 16 lottery corruption-similar circumstances. Another 1 - the Kimberley subject - is ahead of a courtroom and two are sent on the NPA for a choice to prosecute. An extra 5 scenarios are increasingly being investigated because of the SAPS detective and forensic companies, he mentioned.
Conveying the reasons to the hold off in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock explained A part of The explanation was the Hawks had to do more investigations when they received dossiers from the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations carried out because of the SIU tend not to satisfy prison benchmarks for prosecutions.”
Hence, the NPA had to operate with investigators from the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to conduct prison investigations and be sure that the evidence fulfills prison prosecution expectations, he stated, incorporating: “That said, the operate of the SIU is significant and contributes greatly to this process.”
De Kock mentioned the SIU’s investigation “generally brings about various referrals. The referrals may in the end lead to a single docket and a single court case.”
He said that twelve matters, which can be “around 85% entire”, ended up getting jointly investigated through the Hawks and also the SIU’s Specialised Financial Operations Device. (The majority of these instances, 7 of which were being lodged in 2020, entail previous NLC Main operating officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned beneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria law firm Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock stated the NPA faced various “challenges” in prosecuting circumstances. These, he explained, involved
the lapse of your time between once the offences have been dedicated as well as the issuing in the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Previously this yr, the SIU informed the committee that important files essential in some prosecutions were deleted through the NLC Personal computer method or experienced gone lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse in which copies of files are archived and stored);
The reality that some implicated people are still utilized by NLC; and
A obstacle for the legality with the Presidential Proclamation by previous NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to making certain finalisation in these matters. To this close, a team of devoted prosecutors has actually been allotted to supervise all NLC issues now less than investigation,” de Kock said. “Matters are handled as a precedence. Once [the] investigations are completed, the NPA will make a choice.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable of get remark from one of the 5 businesses accused by the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent annual economical statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, considered one of TTP’s two directors, stated within an electronic mail in reaction to thoughts: “Resulting from shopper confidentiality, we would like to suggest that TTP Consulting is not really willing to disclose customers’ economic confidential facts with the general public or media … with no consent on the customer or maybe a authorized cause.”
The business can be a “associate” of numerous state entities, including SARS as well as CIPC, In keeping with its Web-site.
Neither of the two directors of Dzata Accountants, that are the two listed as inactive to the CIPC register of providers, responded to emailed queries. The corporation is deregistered because of the CIPC for failing to submit economic statements since 2021.
The sole director of Mageba Ntuli Trading and Consulting Support, Patrick Zulu, died 3 several years in the past, In line with official information. The business was deregistered with the CIPC for failing to submit monetary statements given that 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the sole director of Magodi Consultants, did not respond to thoughts emailed to him.
GroundUp was not able to discover any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Solutions Using the CIPC. We were being also unable to trace any of the corporate’s administrators to ask for remark.