The accountants who assisted loot the Lottery

The accountants who assisted loot the Lottery

Blog Article

The Distinctive Investigating Device has identified 5 accounting companies that helped loot Lottery cash. Graphic: Lisa Nelson

The Distinctive Investigating Unit has identified 5 accounting and auditing companies that helped non-earnings businesses loot Lottery dollars meant for “superior leads to”.
The accounting corporations compiled fraudulent monetary statements utilized by these businesses to make an application for Lottery funding, the SIU told Parliament.
Acting Main national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe stated the SIU would choose action to acquire these corporations blacklisted.
A 4-12 months probe by the ผล หวย หุ้น Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered 5 accounting and auditing corporations that served dodgy non-gain companies loot a huge selection of numerous rands meant for “good causes” from the Lottery.

These companies had been explained because of the SIU as “Skilled enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent monetary statements” which were used by the businesses to submit an application for Lottery funding.

The five providers have been named in Parliament via the SIU’s acting chief nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They are TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Companies.

Fraudulent financials made by these 5 accounting companies aided approximately forty providers get their arms on lottery funding, according to the SIU presentation.

Based on a tool containing data with all lottery grants because 2002, these businesses got over R314-million in funding.

“These NPCs were being funded because of the National Lotteries Fee (NLC) even so the funds weren't utilized for his or her supposed function,” Xesibe told Parliament’s Trade, Sector and Opposition Portfolio Committee past 7 days.

The SIU, the Hawks as well as the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) were being in Parliament to report back to the committee on development in bringing individuals and organisations associated with looting the lottery to ebook.

Xesibe instructed GroundUp which the SIU meant to lodge issues from the accounting companies concerned and was checking if these firms were being registered and, If that's so, with which Experienced bodies.

“We wish these firms for being blacklisted,” she informed GroundUp.

To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was needed to make two a long time of once-a-year economic statements, Xesibe defined in Parliament.

Having said that, as an ongoing 6-calendar year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has uncovered, hijacked non-gain organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-earnings corporations (NPCs) with no economic observe data ended up utilized to submit an application for funding.

In certain instances, Nearly identical financial statements were produced for unrelated organisations, often with just the names with the organisations transformed, GroundUp’s investigation identified.

Documents submitted by legitimate NPCs for unsuccessful grant programs were normally utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to apply for funding. The small print and documents on the unsuccessful applicants had been provided by senior Lottery officers for the dodgy applicants.

With cursory or - generally - no verification, these dodgy applicants had been awarded many rands in grants. Occasionally additional tranches of cash had been paid out out with out Considerably examining over the development of projects.

The vast majority of these grants have been designed by means of proactive funding, which was at the center with the looting with the lottery. Proactive funding permitted the Minister of Trade, Sector and Level of competition, or maybe the NLC at the side of its board, to identify leads to to fund without having initially necessitating an application. This was stopped every time a new NLC board was appointed.

R2-billion in grants below investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi said the SIU was at the moment investigating grants valued at more than R2-billion, plus the device was still often obtaining idea-offs about more corruption.

He informed MPs the SIU’s investigation were damaged into 3 phases: the main, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the 2nd, also done, involved R247-million. Within the third section, as a consequence of be finalised at the conclusion of the yr, the SIU is investigating grants valued at almost R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi stated.

He reported that the SIU would implement “soon” for that Presidential Proclamation, originally granted in October 2020 to research corruption involving lottery grants, to be extended to include procurement via the NLC.

The SIU investigation had up to now brought about thirteen disciplinary referrals into the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Mental Properties Commission to blacklist folks implicated while in the looting. Issues involving two persons had been referred on the Authorized Apply Council and also the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The SIU had noticed many developments under the past NLC board and government - most of whom are implicated in looting - Mothibi advised MPs.

This included a “craze of collusion in between NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “common maladministration during the approval of grants,” he explained.

Gradual development from the NPA
The SIU has frozen properties, Attributes, vehicles together with other belongings worth tens of hundreds of thousands that were bought with lottery funds, but MPs expressed concern at gradual development in prosecuting Those people linked to the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get well property bought with stolen point out cash and doesn't have prosecuting powers).

Whilst the SIU has referred 15 matters to your NPA, so far only two folks have been introduced before a court docket. Two Guys appeared in court in Kimberley not too long ago in reference to misappropriated money collected for just a task to fight gender-centered violence.

In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight years in prison for his part in the R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Charges towards two people charged with him, who the SIU has referred to as “kingpins” during the corruption that overwhelmed the NLC, have been dropped.

Major-Common Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for precedence offences, explained to MPs which the Hawks were presently investigating 16 lottery corruption-related conditions. A further a person - the Kimberley subject - is ahead of a court docket and two are actually sent to your NPA for a decision to prosecute. An additional 5 circumstances are increasingly being investigated through the SAPS detective and forensic products and services, he mentioned.

Outlining The explanations for the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock mentioned Component of the reason was which the Hawks needed to do further more investigations every time they received dossiers from the SIU.

“In essence, the investigations carried out because of the SIU will not satisfy criminal benchmarks for prosecutions.”

Hence, the NPA had to operate with investigators while in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to conduct felony investigations and be sure that the evidence fulfills prison prosecution specifications, he reported, including: “Having said that, the function on the SIU is important and contributes drastically to this method.”

De Kock reported that the SIU’s investigation “frequently leads to a number of referrals. The referrals may perhaps finally result in one docket and 1 court circumstance.”

He reported that twelve matters, that are “roughly eighty five% comprehensive”, have been becoming jointly investigated by the Hawks as well as SIU’s Specialised Economic Functions Unit. (A large number of circumstances, 7 of which had been lodged in 2020, require previous NLC chief working officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned less than a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria lawyer Leslie Ramulifho.)

De Kock explained the NPA confronted quite a few “difficulties” in prosecuting scenarios. These, he reported, included

the lapse of time in between once 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” (Previously this yr, the SIU informed the committee that key files essential in some prosecutions were deleted through the NLC Personal computer method or experienced gone missing from Metrofile, a warehouse where copies of paperwork are archived and saved);
the fact that some implicated persons are still employed by NLC; and
A problem to the legality in the Presidential Proclamation by previous NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is dedicated to ensuring finalisation in these matters. To this finish, a crew of committed prosecutors has long been allotted to supervise all NLC issues at this time less than investigation,” de Kock reported. “Issues are managed for a priority. When [the] investigations are accomplished, the NPA will make a call.”

What the businesses say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable of get comment from on the list of five companies accused via the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent once-a-year fiscal statements,TTP Consulting.

Aubrey Moeng, certainly one of TTP’s two administrators, said in an e mail in reaction to concerns: “Resulting from client confidentiality, we desire to suggest that TTP Consulting is not really willing to divulge customers’ fiscal confidential facts with the general public or media … without the consent on the consumer or possibly a authorized cause.”

The business is actually a “companion” of a number of point out entities, which include SARS plus the CIPC, In line with its Web site.

Neither of The 2 directors of Dzata Accountants, that are both stated as inactive around the CIPC sign-up of companies, responded to emailed inquiries. The company has become deregistered via the CIPC for failing to post monetary statements due to the fact 2021.

The only real director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Company, Patrick Zulu, died a few decades back, In keeping with Formal data. The business was deregistered with the CIPC for failing to submit monetary statements because 2021.

Matamela Magodi, the only real director of Magodi Consultants, did not reply to inquiries emailed to him.

GroundUp was unable to obtain any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Expert services With all the CIPC. We were being also not able to trace any of the corporation’s directors to ask for comment.