The Distinctive Investigating Unit has identified 5 accounting firms that aided loot Lottery money. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Specific Investigating Device has recognized 5 accounting and auditing corporations that assisted non-earnings organizations loot Lottery cash supposed for “great will cause”.
The accounting corporations compiled fraudulent fiscal statements employed by these organizations to submit an application for Lottery funding, the SIU told Parliament.
Acting Main countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe claimed the SIU would acquire action to get these firms blacklisted.
A 4-calendar year probe by the ผล หวย Specific Investigating Device (SIU) has exposed 5 accounting and auditing corporations that helped dodgy non-income corporations loot hundreds of a lot of rands intended for “good causes” in the Lottery.
These firms were explained through the SIU as “Specialist enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent monetary statements” which were used by the businesses to apply for Lottery funding.
The 5 companies have been named in Parliament from the SIU’s acting chief nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They are really 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 organizations get their palms on lottery funding, based on the SIU presentation.
Based upon a Resource that contains knowledge with all lottery grants due to the fact 2002, these corporations obtained about R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs have been funded with the National Lotteries Fee (NLC) nevertheless the resources were not applied for their meant objective,” Xesibe instructed Parliament’s Trade, Business and Competition Portfolio Committee final 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 ebook.
Xesibe instructed GroundUp the SIU intended to lodge complaints in opposition to the accounting companies associated and was checking if these firms were being registered and, In that case, with which Experienced bodies.
“We wish these providers to generally be blacklisted,” she instructed GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was required to deliver two several years of once-a-year fiscal statements, Xesibe explained in Parliament.
On the other hand, as an ongoing six-12 months investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has exposed, hijacked non-financial gain organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-profit organizations (NPCs) without money keep track of documents were being utilized to make an application for funding.
In some occasions, Virtually equivalent monetary statements were being created for unrelated organisations, often with only the names in the organisations transformed, GroundUp’s investigation located.
Paperwork submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant programs have been usually utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to apply for funding. The main points and documents from the unsuccessful applicants were being supplied by senior Lottery officers towards the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - normally - no verification, these dodgy applicants ended up awarded many rands in grants. From time to time further tranches of cash were paid out out without Significantly examining over the progress of projects.
The overwhelming majority of these grants were being produced by means of proactive funding, which was at the heart in the looting in the lottery. Proactive funding permitted the Minister of Trade, Marketplace and Opposition, or even the NLC along with its board, to recognize triggers to fund devoid of very first necessitating an software. This was stopped whenever a new NLC board was appointed.
R2-billion in grants under investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi claimed the SIU was at the moment investigating grants valued at around R2-billion, as well as unit was even now regularly getting suggestion-offs about far more corruption.
He instructed MPs the SIU’s investigation were broken into 3 phases: the primary, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the 2nd, also done, associated R247-million. From the third section, due to be finalised at the conclusion of the yr, the SIU is investigating grants valued at almost R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi said.
He claimed that the SIU would implement “before long” to the Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in Oct 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, to get prolonged to include procurement with the NLC.
The SIU investigation experienced to this point led to 13 disciplinary referrals for the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Intellectual Homes Fee to blacklist persons implicated during the looting. Problems involving two people today were referred on the Authorized Apply Council along with the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU had noticed many developments underneath the past NLC board and executive - most of whom are already implicated in looting - Mothibi informed MPs.
This included a “craze of collusion in between NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “general maladministration while in the acceptance of grants,” he stated.
Sluggish development via the NPA
The SIU has frozen houses, Homes, autos as well as other assets well worth tens of tens of millions which were purchased with lottery cash, but MPs expressed worry at sluggish progress in prosecuting Individuals associated with the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to recover belongings purchased with stolen point out cash and does not have prosecuting powers).
Whilst the SIU has referred fifteen issues on the NPA, up to now only two folks have been brought right before a courtroom. Two Guys appeared in court docket in Kimberley just lately in reference to misappropriated funds gathered for a task to beat gender-primarily based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to 8 decades in prison for his portion inside of a R1.5-million lottery grant fraud. Fees versus two people billed with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” within the corruption that overwhelmed the NLC, were dropped.
Significant-Common Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for precedence offences, advised MPs that the Hawks were presently investigating sixteen lottery corruption-linked situations. Yet another 1 - the Kimberley make any difference - is ahead of a court and two are actually sent into the NPA for a decision to prosecute. An additional 5 circumstances are increasingly being investigated by the SAPS detective and forensic expert services, he said.
Describing The explanations with the hold off in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Countrywide Director Rodney de Kock stated Portion of The rationale was the Hawks had to do even more investigations if they gained dossiers with the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations undertaken from the SIU usually do not satisfy prison benchmarks for prosecutions.”
Hence, the NPA experienced to work with investigators in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to perform legal investigations and make sure that the proof satisfies legal prosecution standards, he explained, introducing: “That said, the get the job done in the SIU is crucial and contributes tremendously to this process.”
De Kock explained the SIU’s investigation “normally results in numerous referrals. The referrals might eventually lead to a single docket and a single court circumstance.”
He reported that 12 matters, which are “close to 85% full”, had been being jointly investigated by the Hawks plus the SIU’s Specialised Economic Functions Device. (The majority of these cases, seven of which ended up lodged in 2020, involve former NLC Main functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned under a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria lawyer Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock explained the NPA confronted quite a few “difficulties” in prosecuting situations. These, he reported, included
the lapse of your time in between once the offences had been committed and also 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 wanted in a few prosecutions had been deleted within the NLC Computer system technique or experienced absent lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse in which copies of files are archived and stored);
The reality that some implicated people remain used by NLC; and
A challenge on the legality of your Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to guaranteeing finalisation in these issues. To this conclusion, a team of dedicated prosecutors is allocated to oversee all NLC matters presently below investigation,” de Kock mentioned. “Matters are handled like a priority. Once [the] investigations are done, the NPA is likely to make a choice.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable of get remark from on the list of five companies accused because of the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent yearly monetary statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, amongst TTP’s two directors, explained within an email in response to issues: “Because of customer confidentiality, we prefer to recommend that TTP Consulting just isn't ready to divulge consumers’ economical private information with the general public or media … with no consent of your shopper or simply a authorized explanation.”
The business is actually a “associate” of many state entities, such as SARS and also the CIPC, according to its Web-site.
Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, who're both shown as inactive around the CIPC sign-up of providers, responded to emailed queries. The corporation is deregistered because of the CIPC for failing to post economical statements given that 2021.
The only director of Mageba Ntuli Buying and selling and Consulting Provider, Patrick Zulu, died 3 a long time in the past, In line with official information. The organization was deregistered from the CIPC for failing to post money statements due to the fact 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the only director of Magodi Consultants, didn't respond to concerns emailed to him.
GroundUp was struggling to locate any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Providers Using the CIPC. We ended up also unable to trace any of the business’s administrators to ask for comment.