The accountants who assisted loot the Lottery

The accountants who assisted loot the Lottery

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

The Special Investigating Unit has recognized five accounting and auditing companies that assisted non-profit corporations loot Lottery revenue meant for “superior triggers”.
The accounting corporations compiled fraudulent fiscal statements used by these corporations to apply for Lottery funding, the SIU explained to Parliament.
Performing chief nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe reported the SIU would take action to get these companies blacklisted.
A four-yr probe because of the หุ้น ชอง 9 Specific Investigating Device (SIU) has exposed five accounting and auditing companies that served dodgy non-financial gain organizations loot hundreds of a lot of rands meant for “great will cause” from your Lottery.

These companies ended up explained from the SIU as “Specialist enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent money statements” that were employed by the companies to apply for Lottery funding.

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

Fraudulent financials produced by these 5 accounting firms aided almost forty firms get their hands on lottery funding, based on the SIU presentation.

Depending on a Software containing knowledge with all lottery grants because 2002, these providers acquired around R314-million in funding.

“These NPCs have been funded from the Nationwide Lotteries Commission (NLC) though the cash weren't utilised for their supposed goal,” Xesibe explained to Parliament’s Trade, Field and Competition Portfolio Committee previous week.

The SIU, the Hawks and also the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) were being in Parliament to report to the committee on development in bringing people and organisations linked to looting the lottery to reserve.

Xesibe told GroundUp that the SIU meant to lodge issues in opposition to the accounting firms included and was examining if these firms were being registered and, If that's so, with which Qualified bodies.

“We want these businesses being blacklisted,” she instructed GroundUp.

To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was needed to create two yrs of annual money statements, Xesibe defined in Parliament.

Nevertheless, as an ongoing six-12 months investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has discovered, hijacked non-profit organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-revenue organizations (NPCs) without any money monitor documents have been used to apply for funding.

In certain occasions, Virtually identical monetary statements ended up created for unrelated organisations, normally with only the names with the organisations changed, GroundUp’s investigation located.

Files submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant programs ended up frequently utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to make an application for funding. The small print and files of the unsuccessful applicants were being equipped by senior Lottery officials to the dodgy applicants.

With cursory or - generally - no verification, these dodgy applicants had been awarded countless rands in grants. From time to time further tranches of cash were paid out devoid of A lot checking about the development of jobs.

The overwhelming majority of these grants have been built through proactive funding, which was at the guts of the looting of the lottery. Proactive funding allowed the Minister of Trade, Business and Level of competition, or maybe the NLC at the side of its board, to discover brings about to fund with out initial requiring an software. This was stopped every time a new NLC board was appointed.

R2-billion in grants below investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi mentioned the SIU was currently investigating grants valued at in excess of R2-billion, and the unit was however frequently obtaining suggestion-offs about extra corruption.

He informed MPs that the SIU’s investigation had been damaged into 3 phases: the main, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the next, also accomplished, concerned R247-million. While in the third phase, due to be finalised at the conclusion of the yr, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Virtually R906-million, involving 40 NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi claimed.

He mentioned which the SIU would use “before long” for that Presidential Proclamation, initially granted in October 2020 to analyze corruption involving lottery grants, to get extended to incorporate procurement by the NLC.

The SIU investigation experienced to date led to 13 disciplinary referrals to the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Mental Properties Fee to blacklist folks implicated from the looting. Grievances involving two people today had been referred for the Lawful Practice Council plus the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The SIU experienced observed numerous trends under the earlier NLC board and executive - many of whom have been implicated in looting - Mothibi explained to MPs.

This bundled 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 said.

Gradual progress with the NPA
The SIU has frozen households, Qualities, cars and trucks and also other belongings value tens of millions that were purchased with lottery resources, but MPs expressed concern at sluggish progress in prosecuting Those people associated with the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Recuperate property purchased with stolen condition money and does not have prosecuting powers).

Although the SIU has referred 15 issues into the NPA, so far only two people have been introduced in advance of a courtroom. Two Gentlemen appeared in courtroom in Kimberley just lately in connection with misappropriated resources collected for any undertaking to combat gender-primarily based violence.

In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight years in jail for his component in a R1.5-million lottery grant fraud. Fees against two individuals billed with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” while in the corruption that confused the NLC, were dropped.

Key-Normal Mmeli Makinyane, the performing divisional commissioner for precedence offences, told MPs that the Hawks have been now investigating sixteen lottery corruption-similar conditions. Yet another just one - the Kimberley matter - is prior to a court and two are already sent towards the NPA for a call to prosecute. An additional five conditions are now being investigated from the SAPS detective and forensic services, he claimed.

Describing the reasons for the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy Nationwide Director Rodney de Kock claimed A part of the reason was which the Hawks needed to do additional investigations whenever they been given dossiers from the SIU.

“In essence, the investigations carried out by the SIU do not fulfill felony specifications for prosecutions.”

As a result, the NPA had to operate with investigators from the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to conduct prison investigations and be sure that the evidence satisfies legal prosecution standards, he reported, incorporating: “That said, the function of the SIU is essential and contributes enormously to this process.”

De Kock claimed that the SIU’s investigation “generally brings about several referrals. The referrals may perhaps eventually bring about 1 docket and a single courtroom case.”

He mentioned that 12 matters, that happen to be “approximately eighty five% comprehensive”, ended up currently being jointly investigated via the Hawks plus the SIU’s Specialised Economic Functions Device. (A large number of conditions, seven of which have been lodged in 2020, involve former NLC chief functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned under a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria attorney Leslie Ramulifho.)

De Kock claimed the NPA faced many “issues” in prosecuting instances. These, he mentioned, incorporated

the lapse of time amongst in the event the offences were being committed as well as the issuing on the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary evidence” (Earlier this year, the SIU informed the committee that essential paperwork desired in some prosecutions were deleted within the NLC computer process or had absent lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse exactly where copies of documents are archived and saved);
The reality that some implicated persons are still utilized by NLC; and
A challenge to your legality in the Presidential Proclamation by previous NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to making sure finalisation in these matters. To this conclusion, a team of committed prosecutors has actually been allocated to oversee all NLC matters now below investigation,” de Kock claimed. “Issues are managed to be a precedence. Once [the] investigations are finished, the NPA can make a decision.”

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

Aubrey Moeng, one among TTP’s two directors, stated within an e-mail in reaction to inquiries: “On account of shopper confidentiality, we would like to recommend that TTP Consulting just isn't willing to disclose consumers’ economic confidential information and facts with the public or media … with no consent from the consumer or a legal cause.”

The corporation is actually a “associate” of quite a few condition entities, together with SARS and the CIPC, As outlined by its Web page.

Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, who will be equally shown as inactive within the CIPC sign up of organizations, responded to emailed concerns. The corporation is deregistered from the CIPC for failing to submit economical statements considering that 2021.

The only real director of Mageba Ntuli Trading and Consulting Provider, Patrick Zulu, died a few years ago, As outlined by Formal data. The corporation was deregistered from the CIPC for failing to submit monetary 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 uncover any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Companies Along with the CIPC. We have been also unable to trace any of the corporation’s directors to request remark.