The accountants who assisted loot the Lottery
The accountants who assisted loot the Lottery
Blog Article
The Unique Investigating Device has recognized 5 accounting corporations that helped loot Lottery funds. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
The Particular Investigating Unit has identified five accounting and auditing corporations that helped non-revenue corporations loot Lottery dollars meant for “excellent brings about”.
The accounting firms compiled fraudulent fiscal statements used by these firms to submit an application for Lottery funding, the SIU advised Parliament.
Performing chief national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe said the SIU would take action to have these firms blacklisted.
A four-calendar year probe by the luckyvip77 Unique Investigating Device (SIU) has exposed five accounting and auditing companies that served dodgy non-gain businesses loot hundreds of countless rands designed for “great leads to” from your Lottery.
These firms were explained because of the SIU as “Qualified enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent money statements” which were employed by the businesses to apply for Lottery funding.
The 5 companies were named in Parliament from the SIU’s performing chief national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They are TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Products and services.
Fraudulent financials made by these five accounting firms aided almost forty organizations get their arms on lottery funding, according to the SIU presentation.
Based upon a Software made up of data with all lottery grants considering that 2002, these companies obtained around R314-million in funding.
“These NPCs were funded from the Nationwide Lotteries Commission (NLC) even so the money were not utilised for their supposed function,” Xesibe advised Parliament’s Trade, Sector and Level of competition Portfolio Committee past week.
The SIU, the Hawks and the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) were in Parliament to report to the committee on progress in bringing people and organisations linked to looting the lottery to ebook.
Xesibe told GroundUp the SIU meant to lodge complaints from the accounting firms included and was examining if these corporations were being registered and, If that's the case, with which Experienced bodies.
“We wish these companies to get blacklisted,” she advised GroundUp.
To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was necessary to generate two a long time of annual monetary statements, Xesibe explained in Parliament.
Nevertheless, being an ongoing six-calendar year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has unveiled, hijacked non-financial gain organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-earnings providers (NPCs) with no fiscal observe data were being used to apply for funding.
In some situations, Virtually identical monetary statements were produced for unrelated organisations, often with just the names on the organisations transformed, GroundUp’s investigation identified.
Files submitted by authentic NPCs for unsuccessful grant applications ended up typically employed by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to make an application for funding. The main points and documents on the unsuccessful applicants were provided by senior Lottery officials towards the dodgy applicants.
With cursory or - generally - no verification, these dodgy applicants were being awarded numerous rands in grants. In some cases further tranches of money have been paid out out without the need of much examining over the development of initiatives.
The overwhelming majority of those grants had been created by way of proactive funding, which was at the guts with the looting on the lottery. Proactive funding allowed the Minister of Trade, Marketplace and Competitiveness, or perhaps the NLC at the side of its board, to determine causes to fund with out 1st demanding an application. 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 currently investigating grants valued at around R2-billion, as well as unit was still frequently obtaining tip-offs about more corruption.
He instructed MPs which the SIU’s investigation had been broken into three phases: the first, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the 2nd, also finished, concerned R247-million. Inside the third period, on account of be finalised at the end of the yr, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Practically R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi explained.
He reported that the SIU would apply “shortly” to the Presidential Proclamation, originally granted in Oct 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, being extended to incorporate procurement because of the NLC.
The SIU investigation had to this point resulted in thirteen disciplinary referrals to your NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Intellectual Attributes Fee to blacklist individuals implicated from the looting. Problems involving two people were referred for the Authorized Exercise Council and the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The SIU experienced observed a number of trends underneath the past NLC board and govt - lots of whom are implicated in looting - Mothibi instructed MPs.
This provided a “trend of collusion involving NLC officials and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “standard maladministration within the acceptance of grants,” he mentioned.
Gradual progress with the NPA
The SIU has frozen households, Qualities, autos and also other belongings worth tens of thousands and thousands which were acquired with lottery cash, but MPs expressed worry at sluggish progress in prosecuting Individuals associated with the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Recuperate assets acquired with stolen point out money and does not have prosecuting powers).
Though the SIU has referred 15 issues to your NPA, thus far only two individuals have been brought just before a court. Two Adult males appeared in courtroom in Kimberley lately in reference to misappropriated funds gathered to get a challenge to fight gender-based violence.
In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight yrs in jail for his component in a very R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Charges towards two men and women billed with him, who the SIU has referred to as “kingpins” while in the corruption that overcome the NLC, ended up dropped.
Big-Normal Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for priority offences, informed MPs that the Hawks were currently investigating sixteen lottery corruption-linked situations. One more one particular - the Kimberley issue - is just before a court docket and two are sent into the NPA for a decision to prosecute. An extra 5 scenarios are being investigated because of the SAPS detective and forensic providers, he reported.
Describing the reasons to the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Nationwide Director Rodney de Kock reported Portion of The rationale was which the Hawks needed to do more investigations whenever they gained dossiers with the SIU.
“In essence, the investigations carried out with the SIU usually do not satisfy prison benchmarks for prosecutions.”
Thus, the NPA had to operate with investigators while in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to perform legal investigations and be certain that the proof meets prison prosecution specifications, he said, including: “Having said that, the operate from the SIU is important and contributes drastically to this method.”
De Kock reported that the SIU’s investigation “usually ends in many referrals. The referrals may perhaps ultimately result in 1 docket and a single court case.”
He said that twelve matters, that happen to be “about 85% full”, had been being jointly investigated from the Hawks as well as the SIU’s Specialised Financial Operations Device. (Many of these cases, seven of which were being lodged in 2020, entail previous NLC Main working officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned underneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria lawyer Leslie Ramulifho.)
De Kock mentioned the NPA confronted quite a few “difficulties” in prosecuting situations. These, he claimed, bundled
the lapse of your time concerning in the event the offences had been committed as well as the issuing in the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Before this yr, the SIU advised the committee that crucial files desired in a few prosecutions were deleted within the NLC Computer system program or experienced gone missing from Metrofile, a warehouse exactly where copies of files are archived and stored);
The reality that some implicated people remain employed by NLC; and
A problem to the legality on the Presidential Proclamation by previous NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to making certain finalisation in these matters. To this end, a crew of committed prosecutors has long been allotted to supervise all NLC issues now under investigation,” de Kock said. “Issues are taken care of to be a precedence. At the time [the] investigations are done, the NPA is likely to make a choice.”
What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only able to get remark from among the list of five businesses accused by the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent once-a-year money statements,TTP Consulting.
Aubrey Moeng, among TTP’s two administrators, mentioned within an email in response to thoughts: “Resulting from client confidentiality, we prefer to advise that TTP Consulting will not be willing to divulge consumers’ financial confidential facts with the general public or media … without the consent in the consumer or maybe a authorized rationale.”
The organization is really a “companion” of a number of point out entities, which include SARS as well as CIPC, As outlined by its Web page.
Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, who're each mentioned as inactive about the CIPC sign up of corporations, responded to emailed queries. The company has actually been deregistered through the CIPC for failing to post financial statements since 2021.
The only director of Mageba Ntuli Buying and selling and Consulting Company, Patrick Zulu, died three a long time in the past, In keeping with Formal documents. The company was deregistered by the CIPC for failing to post economical statements considering the fact that 2021.
Matamela Magodi, the only real director of Magodi Consultants, did not reply to thoughts emailed to him.
GroundUp was not able to locate any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Providers Using the CIPC. We were being also unable to trace any of the corporation’s directors to request remark.