The accountants who helped loot the Lottery

The accountants who helped loot the Lottery

Blog Article

The Unique Investigating Unit has discovered five accounting firms that served loot Lottery cash. Graphic: Lisa Nelson

The Unique Investigating Device has identified 5 accounting and auditing corporations that aided non-gain companies loot Lottery money supposed for “fantastic will cause”.
The accounting firms compiled fraudulent monetary statements utilized by these companies to apply for Lottery funding, the SIU advised Parliament.
Acting Main nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe mentioned the SIU would take motion to own these corporations blacklisted.
A 4-yr probe from the ltpbet Unique Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered five accounting and auditing firms that helped dodgy non-financial gain providers loot a huge selection of countless rands intended for “great causes” with the Lottery.

These corporations were being described from the SIU as “professional enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent monetary statements” that were employed by the companies to make an application for Lottery funding.

The five businesses were being named in Parliament because of 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 Services.

Fraudulent financials produced by these five accounting firms aided almost 40 organizations get their palms on lottery funding, in accordance with the SIU presentation.

Determined by a Instrument that contains info with all lottery grants given that 2002, these organizations received above R314-million in funding.

“These NPCs have been funded from the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) however the funds weren't used for their meant goal,” Xesibe told Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Competition Portfolio Committee final week.

The SIU, the Hawks as well as the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) ended up in Parliament to report to the committee on development in bringing people today and organisations associated with looting the lottery to e-book.

Xesibe instructed GroundUp the SIU meant to lodge problems towards the accounting companies involved and was checking if these corporations were registered and, If that's so, with which Qualified bodies.

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

To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was necessary to produce two decades of once-a-year money statements, Xesibe explained in Parliament.

However, as an ongoing six-calendar year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has discovered, hijacked non-profit organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-revenue providers (NPCs) without having financial monitor records ended up used to make an application for funding.

In a few cases, Just about similar fiscal statements had been manufactured for unrelated organisations, generally with only the names on the organisations modified, GroundUp’s investigation found.

Paperwork submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant applications were generally used by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to submit an application for funding. The small print and paperwork of your unsuccessful applicants have been supplied by senior Lottery officials to your dodgy applicants.

With cursory or - usually - no verification, these dodgy applicants ended up awarded countless rands in grants. In some cases extra tranches of funds were compensated out without the need of A lot checking about the development of jobs.

The overwhelming majority of such grants were made through proactive funding, which was at the heart of the looting of your lottery. Proactive funding permitted the Minister of Trade, Industry and Opposition, or the NLC at the side of its board, to determine brings about to fund devoid of to start with necessitating an application. This was stopped each time a new NLC board was appointed.

R2-billion in grants beneath investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi stated the SIU was at present investigating grants valued at above R2-billion, as well as the unit was however frequently receiving suggestion-offs about a lot more corruption.

He informed MPs which the SIU’s investigation had been broken into a few phases: the 1st, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the next, also finished, associated R247-million. During the 3rd phase, because of be finalised at the end of the calendar year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Just about R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi stated.

He reported that the SIU would implement “soon” to the Presidential Proclamation, originally granted in October 2020 to analyze corruption involving lottery grants, to get prolonged to include procurement by the NLC.

The SIU investigation had thus far led to thirteen disciplinary referrals towards the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the Companies and Mental Houses Commission to blacklist persons implicated during the looting. Issues involving two persons had been referred into the Authorized Practice Council and the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The SIU had noticed many trends beneath the former NLC board and executive - many of whom have been implicated in looting - Mothibi explained to MPs.

This provided a “development of collusion amongst NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “general maladministration within the approval of grants,” he stated.

Slow progress via the NPA
The SIU has frozen properties, Attributes, cars and also other property worthy of tens of millions which were acquired with lottery cash, but MPs expressed worry at gradual development in prosecuting These involved with the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get well assets purchased with stolen point out funds and does not have prosecuting powers).

Whilst the SIU has referred fifteen issues to the NPA, to date only two folks have been introduced prior to a courtroom. Two Males appeared in court in Kimberley a short while ago in reference to misappropriated resources gathered for your challenge to combat gender-primarily based violence.

In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight many years in prison for his element inside of a R1.five-million lottery grant fraud. Charges towards two people today charged with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” inside the corruption that overcome the NLC, have been dropped.

Key-Normal Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for priority offences, informed MPs that the Hawks were being at the moment investigating 16 lottery corruption-relevant instances. A further a single - the Kimberley subject - is before a courtroom and two are already despatched into the NPA for a decision to prosecute. A further five scenarios are increasingly being investigated from the SAPS detective and forensic companies, he claimed.

Conveying the reasons for the hold off in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Countrywide Director Rodney de Kock reported Component of The key reason why was the Hawks had to do more investigations if they gained dossiers within the SIU.

“In essence, the investigations carried out via the SIU never satisfy prison expectations for prosecutions.”

As a result, the NPA experienced to operate with investigators within the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to carry out felony investigations and be certain that the proof satisfies criminal prosecution specifications, he explained, introducing: “Having said that, the work on the SIU is essential and contributes enormously to this method.”

De Kock reported the SIU’s investigation “normally ends in a number of referrals. The referrals may possibly eventually lead to 1 docket and 1 court circumstance.”

He mentioned that twelve matters, that are “roughly eighty five% entire”, ended up becoming jointly investigated with the Hawks and the SIU’s Specialised Economic Functions Device. (Most of these conditions, seven of which had been lodged in 2020, require former NLC chief functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned less than a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria law firm Leslie Ramulifho.)

De Kock reported the NPA confronted many “troubles” in prosecuting scenarios. These, he claimed, provided

the lapse of your time involving once the offences were fully commited along with the issuing of the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary evidence” (Previously this calendar year, the SIU informed the committee that vital documents necessary in certain prosecutions were deleted from the NLC Laptop procedure or experienced absent lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse wherever copies of paperwork are archived and stored);
the fact that some implicated people remain utilized by NLC; and
A problem for the legality on the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is dedicated to guaranteeing finalisation in these matters. To this conclusion, a crew of dedicated prosecutors has been allotted to oversee all NLC matters presently less than investigation,” de Kock explained. “Issues are dealt with for a priority. When [the] investigations are concluded, the NPA could make a decision.”

What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only in the position to get remark from one of many five providers accused from the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent annual economic statements,TTP Consulting.

Aubrey Moeng, one among TTP’s two directors, mentioned in an electronic mail in reaction to issues: “As a consequence of customer confidentiality, we would like to suggest that TTP Consulting just isn't willing to disclose purchasers’ fiscal confidential information with the general public or media … without the consent of your consumer or a authorized rationale.”

The business is usually a “spouse” of quite a few state entities, together with SARS as well as the CIPC, In keeping with its Web site.

Neither of the two directors of Dzata Accountants, who're equally mentioned as inactive within the CIPC register of firms, responded to emailed issues. The company continues to be deregistered from the CIPC for failing to post money statements since 2021.

The only real director of Mageba Ntuli Trading and Consulting Service, Patrick Zulu, died 3 many years in the past, Based on official data. The organization was deregistered because of the CIPC for failing to post monetary statements considering the fact that 2021.

Matamela Magodi, the sole director of Magodi Consultants, did not respond to queries emailed to him.

GroundUp was not able to obtain any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Solutions Together with the CIPC. We ended up also struggling to trace any of the corporation’s administrators to request comment.

https://javorka.online
https://ufabetsea.online
https://ufabetwine.online
https://ufabetsc.online
https://ufabethunter.online
https://ufawinbet.site
https://sagaming99.site
https://sagaming93.online
https://sagaming92.online
https://sagaming91.online
https://sagaming90.online
https://javbom.online
https://javcanna.online
https://javmini.online
https://javoops.online
https://javhubs.online
https://javep.online
https://javzooms.online
https://javporns.online
https://javbros.online
https://sagamings.online
https://huaylnw.shop
https://huayka.shop
https://huaynaja.shop
https://huay1.site
https://huay2.site
https://huay3.site
https://huay4.site
https://huay5.site
https://huay6.site
https://edeltanet.com