The accountants who aided loot the Lottery

The accountants who aided loot the Lottery

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The Particular Investigating Device has determined 5 accounting corporations that aided loot Lottery resources. Graphic: Lisa Nelson

The Unique Investigating Device has identified five accounting and auditing corporations that assisted non-earnings companies loot Lottery dollars meant for “great results in”.
The accounting firms compiled fraudulent money statements used by these organizations to make an application for Lottery funding, the SIU instructed Parliament.
Performing chief nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe explained the SIU would acquire action to get these companies blacklisted.
A four-yr probe because of the ผล สลาก Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered five accounting and auditing companies that aided dodgy non-income companies loot many millions of rands meant for “excellent will cause” with the Lottery.

These companies ended up explained through the SIU as “Skilled enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent economic statements” which were utilized by the businesses to make an application for Lottery funding.

The five businesses were named in Parliament via the SIU’s acting chief countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They can be TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Solutions.

Fraudulent financials made by these 5 accounting firms assisted approximately 40 corporations get their palms on lottery funding, in accordance with the SIU presentation.

Depending on a Device that contains facts with all lottery grants due to the fact 2002, these companies got more than R314-million in funding.

“These NPCs were funded via the Countrywide Lotteries Fee (NLC) though the cash weren't used for their supposed intent,” Xesibe instructed Parliament’s Trade, Market and Levels of competition Portfolio Committee very last week.

The SIU, the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have been in Parliament to report back to the committee on progress in bringing people and organisations involved in looting the lottery to guide.

Xesibe informed GroundUp that the SIU intended to lodge complaints versus the accounting companies associated and was checking if these corporations were being registered and, If that's so, with which professional bodies.

“We would like these corporations to get blacklisted,” she instructed GroundUp.

To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was required to produce two decades of annual economic statements, Xesibe discussed in Parliament.

However, being an ongoing six-12 months investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has discovered, hijacked non-income organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-earnings businesses (NPCs) without fiscal monitor documents were used to submit an application for funding.

In a few cases, Virtually similar monetary statements have been created for unrelated organisations, normally with just the names of your organisations transformed, GroundUp’s investigation found.

Files submitted by real NPCs for unsuccessful grant apps were generally utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to submit an application for funding. The small print and paperwork on the unsuccessful applicants were being equipped by senior Lottery officers into the dodgy applicants.

With cursory or - generally - no verification, these dodgy applicants were being awarded numerous rands in grants. From time to time supplemental tranches of cash were being paid out out with no much examining within the progress of initiatives.

The vast majority of those grants have been designed through proactive funding, which was at the guts in the looting of your lottery. Proactive funding authorized the Minister of Trade, Sector and Level of competition, or the NLC at the side of its board, to establish results in to fund without 1st necessitating an application. This was stopped each time a new NLC board was appointed.

R2-billion in grants underneath investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi reported the SIU was currently investigating grants valued at around R2-billion, and the device was continue to on a regular basis obtaining suggestion-offs about far more corruption.

He advised MPs that the SIU’s investigation had been damaged into a few phases: the initial, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the second, also accomplished, included R247-million. During the 3rd stage, because of be finalised at the conclusion of the 12 months, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Nearly R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi mentioned.

He reported which the SIU would apply “quickly” to the Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in October 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, for being extended to include procurement through the NLC.

The SIU investigation had to date triggered 13 disciplinary referrals towards the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Intellectual Houses Commission to blacklist people today implicated from the looting. Complaints involving two men and women were referred towards the Lawful Follow Council as well as the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The SIU had observed various trends underneath the preceding NLC board and govt - a lot of whom have been implicated in looting - Mothibi informed MPs.

This involved a “craze of collusion among NLC officials and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “standard maladministration while in the approval of grants,” he said.

Sluggish progress with the NPA
The SIU has frozen houses, Attributes, vehicles as well as other property worth tens of hundreds of thousands which were purchased with lottery resources, but MPs expressed issue at gradual development in prosecuting Those people involved in the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to recover assets acquired with stolen point out cash and doesn't have prosecuting powers).

Though the SIU has referred fifteen issues to your NPA, thus far only two folks have been introduced right before a court docket. Two Adult males appeared in court docket in Kimberley a short while ago in reference to misappropriated money collected to get a project to beat gender-dependent violence.

In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight years in prison for his part inside of a R1.5-million lottery grant fraud. Charges versus two persons charged with him, who the SIU has referred to as “kingpins” during the corruption that confused the NLC, were dropped.

Main-Typical Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for priority offences, told MPs the Hawks ended up currently investigating sixteen lottery corruption-connected cases. A different one - the Kimberley issue - is before a court and two are already despatched to your NPA for a choice to prosecute. An extra five circumstances are being investigated from the SAPS detective and forensic expert services, he claimed.

Outlining The explanations for your hold off in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Nationwide Director Rodney de Kock mentioned Section of The rationale was that the Hawks had to do further investigations when they received dossiers through the SIU.

“In essence, the investigations carried out from the SIU do not satisfy felony expectations for prosecutions.”

Consequently, the NPA experienced to operate with investigators while in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to carry out felony investigations and ensure that the proof fulfills criminal prosecution requirements, he said, adding: “That said, the function of your SIU is crucial and contributes considerably to this process.”

De Kock reported that the SIU’s investigation “normally leads to multiple referrals. The referrals could finally lead to a person docket and 1 courtroom scenario.”

He claimed that twelve issues, which can be “somewhere around eighty five% finish”, were currently being jointly investigated because of the Hawks as well as SIU’s Specialised Financial Operations Device. (Most of these cases, seven of which were lodged in 2020, contain former NLC Main operating officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned less than a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria attorney Leslie Ramulifho.)

De Kock claimed the NPA faced a number of “worries” in prosecuting circumstances. These, he said, provided

the lapse of your time between if the offences were being fully commited as well as the issuing with the Presidential Proclamation on one November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Before this calendar year, the SIU told the committee that important documents required in some prosecutions had been deleted from the NLC Personal computer method or experienced long gone lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse the place copies of documents are archived and saved);
the fact that some implicated people today are still used by NLC; and
A problem towards the legality with the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to guaranteeing finalisation in these matters. To this close, a crew of dedicated prosecutors has long been allocated to oversee all NLC matters now underneath investigation,” de Kock said. “Matters are handled like a priority. As soon as [the] investigations are finished, the NPA can make a decision.”

What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable to get comment from one of many five companies accused from the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent yearly economic statements,TTP Consulting.

Aubrey Moeng, one among TTP’s two directors, claimed in an electronic mail in response to questions: “As a consequence of consumer confidentiality, we want to recommend that TTP Consulting just isn't prepared to disclose consumers’ economical confidential facts with the public or media … without the consent with the shopper or perhaps a legal reason.”

The organization is really a “companion” of several point out entities, like SARS plus the CIPC, As outlined by its Site.

Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, who're both of those shown as inactive within the CIPC sign up of businesses, responded to emailed inquiries. The corporate is deregistered via the CIPC for failing to submit money statements because 2021.

The only director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Support, Patrick Zulu, died 3 yrs ago, Based on official records. The company was deregistered from the CIPC for failing to post financial statements because 2021.

Matamela Magodi, the only real director of Magodi Consultants, didn't respond to issues emailed to him.

GroundUp was not able to discover 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.