The accountants who served loot the Lottery
The accountants who served loot the Lottery
Blog Article
The Exclusive Investigating Device has recognized 5 accounting corporations that aided loot Lottery cash. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Distinctive Investigating Device has recognized 5 accounting and auditing firms that served non-profit companies loot Lottery revenue supposed for “excellent leads to”.
The accounting companies compiled fraudulent economic statements used by these providers to make an application for Lottery funding, the SIU told Parliament.
Acting Main countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe mentioned the SIU would acquire action to get these companies blacklisted.
A 4-calendar year probe from the ตรวจ หวย Specific Investigating Device (SIU) has exposed 5 accounting and auditing firms that aided dodgy non-revenue corporations loot hundreds of an incredible number of rands intended for “good leads to” with the Lottery.
These companies ended up explained via the SIU as “professional enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent economical statements” which were used by the businesses to make an application for Lottery funding.
The 5 corporations ended up named in Parliament because of the SIU’s performing chief countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. These are TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Expert services.
Fraudulent financials produced by these five accounting corporations helped approximately 40 firms get their hands on lottery funding, based on the SIU presentation.
Based on a Device that contains details with all lottery grants given that 2002, these firms obtained around R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs were being funded because of the Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) even so the money weren't used for his or her intended objective,” Xesibe told Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Competitors Portfolio Committee past week.
The SIU, the Hawks as well as Countrywide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) ended up in Parliament to report back to the committee on progress in bringing men and women and organisations involved in looting the lottery to ebook.
Xesibe explained to GroundUp that the SIU meant to lodge issues in opposition to the accounting corporations concerned and was checking if these companies were registered and, if so, with which professional bodies.
“We wish these companies to get blacklisted,” she explained to GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was needed to develop two yrs of once-a-year money statements, Xesibe spelled out in Parliament.
On the other hand, as an ongoing 6-yr investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has uncovered, hijacked non-revenue organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-revenue organizations (NPCs) without any financial track documents had been utilized to make an application for funding.
In certain cases, Virtually similar financial statements have been generated for unrelated organisations, frequently with only the names in the organisations transformed, GroundUp’s investigation uncovered.
Paperwork submitted by real NPCs for unsuccessful grant apps ended up usually utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to make an application for funding. The details and paperwork in the unsuccessful applicants had been equipped by senior Lottery officials towards the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - frequently - no verification, these dodgy applicants were awarded countless rands in grants. From time to time further tranches of resources had been paid out out with out A great deal examining around the progress of tasks.
The vast majority of these grants were created through proactive funding, which was at the center from the looting from the lottery. Proactive funding allowed the Minister of Trade, Industry and Level of competition, or maybe the NLC along side its board, to discover triggers to fund with out first demanding an application. This was stopped any time a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants below investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi said the SIU was at this time investigating grants valued at more than R2-billion, plus the device was nevertheless consistently obtaining suggestion-offs about more corruption.
He told MPs that the SIU’s investigation had been broken into a few phases: the very first, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the second, also concluded, included R247-million. From the third phase, because of be finalised at the end of the year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Virtually R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi reported.
He explained that the SIU would utilize “shortly” for your Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in October 2020 to analyze corruption involving lottery grants, to get prolonged to include procurement because of the NLC.
The SIU investigation had thus far led to thirteen disciplinary referrals to the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Intellectual Attributes Fee to blacklist folks implicated during the looting. Complaints involving two folks had been referred for the Authorized Follow Council plus the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU experienced observed many traits beneath the preceding NLC board and executive - many of whom happen to be implicated in looting - Mothibi explained to MPs.
This involved a “craze of collusion among NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “normal maladministration from the approval of grants,” he reported.
Sluggish development from the NPA
The SIU has frozen properties, properties, automobiles along with other belongings worth tens of hundreds of thousands which were acquired with lottery resources, but MPs expressed issue at slow progress in prosecuting Those people associated with the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to recover assets acquired with stolen point out cash and doesn't have prosecuting powers).
When the SIU has referred fifteen matters for the NPA, up to now only two people have been introduced ahead of a court. Two men appeared in court docket in Kimberley not long ago in connection with misappropriated resources collected for just a job to overcome gender-primarily based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to 8 a long time in jail for his portion in the R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Expenses from two folks billed with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” within the corruption that overcome the NLC, were dropped.
Big-Common Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for priority offences, informed MPs that the Hawks have been at this time investigating sixteen lottery corruption-similar cases. Another a single - the Kimberley issue - is ahead of a courtroom and two are already sent into the NPA for a choice to prosecute. A further 5 situations are now being investigated from the SAPS detective and forensic solutions, he reported.
Outlining the reasons to the hold off in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Countrywide Director Rodney de Kock stated Element of The rationale was that the Hawks needed to do more investigations if they received dossiers from your SIU.
“In essence, the investigations undertaken from the SIU don't satisfy criminal requirements for prosecutions.”
Consequently, the NPA experienced to operate with investigators while in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to conduct felony investigations and be sure that the evidence satisfies legal prosecution expectations, he explained, including: “Having said that, the get the job done from the SIU is crucial and contributes drastically to this method.”
De Kock stated the SIU’s investigation “often ends in various referrals. The referrals might eventually end in a single docket and one particular court docket circumstance.”
He reported that twelve matters, that happen to be “approximately eighty five% entire”, were being being jointly investigated via the Hawks plus the SIU’s Specialised Economic Operations Device. (These types of circumstances, 7 of which had been lodged in 2020, contain former NLC chief running officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned under a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria attorney Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock reported the NPA faced many “challenges” in prosecuting scenarios. These, he said, incorporated
the lapse of your time involving in the event the offences were being fully commited and also the issuing from the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Before this calendar year, the SIU explained to the committee that vital files wanted in a few prosecutions had been deleted with the NLC Computer system technique or had absent lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse the place copies of documents are archived and stored);
The point that some implicated folks remain used by NLC; and
A challenge on the legality of the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to guaranteeing finalisation in these issues. To this finish, a crew of committed prosecutors continues to be allocated to oversee all NLC matters at the moment underneath investigation,” de Kock reported. “Issues are managed as a precedence. At the time [the] investigations are done, the NPA could make a choice.”
What the businesses say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable of get comment from one of several five organizations accused from the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent yearly financial statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, amongst TTP’s two directors, reported in an e mail in reaction to queries: “Because of customer confidentiality, we wish to suggest that TTP Consulting will not be prepared to disclose customers’ money private information with the public or media … with no consent of the client or possibly a authorized cause.”
The corporate is usually a “associate” of quite a few point out entities, together with SARS and the CIPC, Based on its website.
Neither of the two directors of Dzata Accountants, who will be equally outlined as inactive over the CIPC register of providers, responded to emailed inquiries. The company has become deregistered by the CIPC for failing to submit money statements given that 2021.
The only director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Service, Patrick Zulu, died three many years in the past, In keeping with official records. The company was deregistered from the CIPC for failing to post economical statements considering the fact that 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the only director of Magodi Consultants, did not reply to queries emailed to him.
GroundUp was unable to come across any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Expert services Together with the CIPC. We were also struggling to trace any of the organization’s administrators to ask for comment.