The accountants who aided loot the Lottery

The accountants who aided loot the Lottery

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The Special Investigating Device has identified five accounting corporations that served loot Lottery resources. Graphic: Lisa Nelson

The Distinctive Investigating Unit has discovered 5 accounting and auditing companies that helped non-financial gain firms loot Lottery cash meant for “superior triggers”.
The accounting companies compiled fraudulent money statements employed by these companies to apply for Lottery funding, the SIU informed Parliament.
Performing Main countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe said the SIU would consider motion to have these corporations blacklisted.
A 4-12 months probe with the ตรวจ หวย รัฐบาล Distinctive Investigating Unit (SIU) has exposed five accounting and auditing corporations that served dodgy non-profit organizations loot countless a lot of rands intended for “excellent leads to” in the Lottery.

These corporations have been described via the SIU as “professional enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent fiscal statements” that were utilized by the businesses to apply for Lottery funding.

The five corporations were named in Parliament because of the SIU’s performing Main national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They can be TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Products and services.

Fraudulent financials made by these 5 accounting corporations served practically forty organizations get their hands on lottery funding, according to the SIU presentation.

According to a Resource made up of information with all lottery grants due to the fact 2002, these companies obtained above R314-million in funding.

“These NPCs were being funded from the Countrywide Lotteries Fee (NLC) even so the funds were not used for their intended purpose,” Xesibe informed Parliament’s Trade, Sector and Levels of competition Portfolio Committee last 7 days.

The SIU, the Hawks plus the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) ended up in Parliament to report to the committee on progress in bringing persons and organisations involved with looting the lottery to e-book.

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

“We would like these businesses to be blacklisted,” she advised GroundUp.

To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was needed to create two decades of once-a-year money statements, Xesibe stated in Parliament.

Even so, being an ongoing 6-12 months investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has revealed, hijacked non-revenue organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-earnings firms (NPCs) without having fiscal observe documents were being accustomed to make an application for funding.

In some scenarios, Practically identical financial statements were being developed for unrelated organisations, usually with just the names with the organisations modified, GroundUp’s investigation found.

Paperwork submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant apps ended up usually employed by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to make 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 have been awarded many rands in grants. In some cases extra tranches of resources had been compensated out without the need of A great deal checking on the development of jobs.

The vast majority of those grants were designed by way of proactive funding, which was at the heart on the looting from the lottery. Proactive funding permitted the Minister of Trade, Field and Competition, or perhaps the NLC together with its board, to establish causes to fund without the need of initial demanding an software. This was stopped when a new NLC board was appointed.

R2-billion in grants underneath investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi explained the SIU was presently investigating grants valued at about R2-billion, and also the unit was however routinely acquiring tip-offs about far more corruption.

He explained to MPs that the SIU’s investigation had been broken into 3 phases: the main, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the second, also accomplished, associated R247-million. In the 3rd phase, resulting from be finalised at the conclusion of the calendar year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at almost R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi reported.

He claimed the SIU would use “before long” for that Presidential Proclamation, initially granted in October 2020 to analyze corruption involving lottery grants, to generally be prolonged to incorporate procurement with the NLC.

The SIU investigation experienced thus far resulted in 13 disciplinary referrals into the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Mental Qualities Commission to blacklist people implicated while in the looting. Problems involving two people had been referred to your Lawful Practice Council along with the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The SIU experienced noticed a number of tendencies beneath the past NLC board and government - lots of whom are implicated in looting - Mothibi instructed MPs.

This incorporated a “trend of collusion involving NLC officials and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “normal maladministration while in the acceptance of grants,” he mentioned.

Gradual progress via the NPA
The SIU has frozen residences, Qualities, cars as well as other belongings really worth tens of tens of millions which were acquired with lottery funds, but MPs expressed concern at slow progress in prosecuting People involved in the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to recover assets bought with stolen point out cash and doesn't have prosecuting powers).

When the SIU has referred fifteen issues on the NPA, up to now only two people have been introduced before a courtroom. Two Adult men appeared in courtroom in Kimberley just lately in connection with misappropriated cash gathered for the undertaking to beat gender-based mostly violence.

In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to 8 many years in jail for his part in a very R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Expenses from two individuals charged with him, who the SIU has referred to as “kingpins” from the corruption that confused the NLC, were dropped.

Main-Normal Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for priority offences, advised MPs that the Hawks had been at the moment investigating 16 lottery corruption-associated instances. An additional 1 - the Kimberley matter - is right before a courtroom and two happen to be despatched on the NPA for a decision to prosecute. An extra five circumstances are being investigated because of the SAPS detective and forensic products and services, he explained.

Explaining The explanations for your delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Countrywide Director Rodney de Kock stated Component of The explanation was the Hawks needed to do more investigations every time they received dossiers through the SIU.

“In essence, the investigations carried out because of the SIU never fulfill prison benchmarks for prosecutions.”

Hence, the NPA experienced to work with investigators during the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to carry out criminal investigations and make sure that the proof meets prison prosecution standards, he reported, including: “Having said that, the do the job in the SIU is very important and contributes greatly to this method.”

De Kock said the SIU’s investigation “often ends in various referrals. The referrals could finally cause a person docket and 1 courtroom case.”

He stated that 12 issues, which happen to be “roughly eighty five% finish”, had been currently being jointly investigated because of the Hawks plus the SIU’s Specialised Financial Operations Device. (A large number of scenarios, seven of which ended up lodged in 2020, contain former NLC chief functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned underneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria attorney Leslie Ramulifho.)

De Kock explained the NPA faced various “issues” in prosecuting situations. These, he said, involved

the lapse of your time among 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” (Previously this yr, the SIU advised the committee that essential paperwork necessary in some prosecutions had been deleted with the NLC Pc technique or had gone lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse where by copies of paperwork are archived and saved);
The point that some implicated people today are still employed by NLC; and
A problem to the legality of the Presidential Proclamation by previous NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to guaranteeing finalisation in these issues. To this conclude, a team of committed prosecutors is allotted to supervise all NLC matters at this time below investigation,” de Kock claimed. “Issues are taken care of like a precedence. At the time [the] investigations are completed, the NPA can make a decision.”

What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only ready to get remark from one of the five businesses accused through the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent once-a-year fiscal statements,TTP Consulting.

Aubrey Moeng, among TTP’s two administrators, claimed in an electronic mail in response to queries: “On account of client confidentiality, we prefer to advise that TTP Consulting is just not prepared to disclose consumers’ financial confidential data with the general public or media … with no consent of the client or even a legal cause.”

The corporate is often a “lover” of various condition entities, like SARS along with the CIPC, In line with its Internet site.

Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, who're both mentioned as inactive to the CIPC sign-up of companies, responded to emailed inquiries. The company has become deregistered by the CIPC for failing to submit economical statements considering that 2021.

The only real director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Services, Patrick Zulu, died 3 years ago, In keeping with official records. The business was deregistered because of the CIPC for failing to post monetary statements due to the fact 2021.

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

GroundUp was not able to come across any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Products and services Using the CIPC. We ended up also struggling to trace any of the corporate’s directors to request remark.