The accountants who helped loot the Lottery

The accountants who helped loot the Lottery

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The Exclusive Investigating Device has discovered five accounting corporations that assisted loot Lottery cash. Graphic: Lisa Nelson

The Unique Investigating Unit has discovered five accounting and auditing companies that aided non-income companies loot Lottery money meant for “excellent will cause”.
The accounting corporations compiled fraudulent economic statements used by these organizations to make an application for Lottery funding, the SIU advised Parliament.
Performing chief nationwide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe said the SIU would choose action to own these corporations blacklisted.
A four-year probe with the ตรวจ หวย ล่าสุด Unique Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered five accounting and auditing corporations that served dodgy non-earnings companies loot numerous a lot of rands intended for “good brings about” with the Lottery.

These corporations had been described from the SIU as “Skilled enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent economic statements” that were employed by the businesses to make an application for Lottery funding.

The five corporations have been named in Parliament through the SIU’s performing Main national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe. They are TTP Consulting, Dzata Accountants, Magodi Consulting, Mageba Ntuli Consulting and Tafta Consulting and Accounting Expert services.

Fraudulent financials produced by these 5 accounting corporations helped approximately forty corporations get their arms on lottery funding, in accordance with the SIU presentation.

According to a Software containing knowledge with all lottery grants because 2002, these firms bought over R314-million in funding.

“These NPCs were being funded because of the Nationwide Lotteries Fee (NLC) even so the funds weren't utilized for his or her supposed reason,” Xesibe advised Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Competitors Portfolio Committee past week.

The SIU, the Hawks plus the Countrywide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) were in Parliament to report to the committee on progress in bringing people today and organisations involved in looting the lottery to e-book.

Xesibe advised GroundUp the SIU intended to lodge grievances from the accounting companies included and was checking if these firms were registered and, If that's the case, with which Expert bodies.

“We wish these corporations being blacklisted,” she advised GroundUp.

To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was required to deliver two several years of once-a-year economical statements, Xesibe discussed in Parliament.

Nevertheless, being an ongoing six-yr investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has disclosed, hijacked non-earnings organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-gain organizations (NPCs) without money keep track of records had been used to make an application for funding.

In a few occasions, Virtually similar economic statements had been created for unrelated organisations, usually with only the names of the organisations changed, GroundUp’s investigation observed.

Paperwork submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant purposes have been often utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to submit an application for funding. The small print and files in the unsuccessful applicants were being supplied by senior Lottery officials into the dodgy applicants.

With cursory or - typically - no verification, these dodgy applicants were being awarded numerous rands in grants. In some cases extra tranches of money have been paid out out with no A great deal examining over the development of initiatives.

The vast majority of these grants were made via proactive funding, which was at the guts with the looting with the lottery. Proactive funding permitted the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, or perhaps the NLC along with its board, to discover leads to to fund without the need of initially requiring an application. This was stopped every time a new NLC board was appointed.

R2-billion in grants under investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi explained the SIU was currently investigating grants valued at above R2-billion, as well as the device was however consistently acquiring idea-offs about extra corruption.

He told MPs which the SIU’s investigation were broken into three phases: the very first, which has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the 2nd, also done, involved R247-million. During the 3rd phase, due to be finalised at the conclusion of the year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Pretty much R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi said.

He claimed that the SIU would implement “before long” to the Presidential Proclamation, at first granted in Oct 2020 to investigate corruption involving lottery grants, being prolonged to include procurement with the NLC.

The SIU investigation experienced so far resulted in 13 disciplinary referrals to your NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Mental Attributes Fee to blacklist people today implicated within the looting. Grievances involving two folks had been referred to the Lawful Exercise Council plus the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The SIU experienced noticed many developments underneath the past NLC board and executive - most of whom are already implicated in looting - Mothibi informed MPs.

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

Gradual progress via the NPA
The SIU has frozen houses, Attributes, vehicles and various assets well worth tens of tens of millions which were acquired with lottery cash, but MPs expressed worry at sluggish progress in prosecuting These involved in the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to recover belongings purchased with stolen state resources and doesn't have prosecuting powers).

Although the SIU has referred fifteen matters for the NPA, so far only two folks have been introduced prior to a courtroom. Two Males appeared in court docket in Kimberley just lately in connection with misappropriated cash gathered for the venture to beat gender-dependent violence.

In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to 8 a long time in jail for his component in a R1.5-million lottery grant fraud. Fees against two men and women billed with him, who the SIU has called “kingpins” while in the corruption that confused the NLC, were being dropped.

Significant-Standard Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for priority offences, advised MPs which the Hawks have been currently investigating sixteen lottery corruption-similar scenarios. Yet another just one - the Kimberley matter - is prior to a court and two are sent towards the NPA for a call to prosecute. An extra five instances are being investigated via the SAPS detective and forensic products and services, he explained.

Describing The explanations for that delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock claimed Portion of the reason was the Hawks had to do more investigations when they obtained dossiers through the SIU.

“In essence, the investigations undertaken with the SIU tend not to satisfy legal criteria for prosecutions.”

Therefore, the NPA experienced to work with investigators while in the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to conduct felony investigations and ensure that the proof meets criminal prosecution requirements, he reported, incorporating: “Having said that, the operate from the SIU is important and contributes considerably to this method.”

De Kock said that the SIU’s investigation “typically ends in various referrals. The referrals might eventually end in a person docket and one court docket scenario.”

He claimed that 12 matters, that are “approximately eighty five% comprehensive”, had been being jointly investigated via the Hawks as well as SIU’s Specialised Economic Functions Unit. (These types of circumstances, 7 of which had been lodged in 2020, include former NLC chief operating officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned under a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria lawyer Leslie Ramulifho.)

De Kock stated the NPA faced numerous “issues” in prosecuting scenarios. These, he claimed, provided

the lapse of time between in the event the offences ended up dedicated along with the issuing from the Presidential Proclamation on one November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary evidence” (Before this year, the SIU instructed the committee that important files required in a few prosecutions were deleted in the NLC Laptop or computer program or experienced long gone lacking from Metrofile, a warehouse exactly where copies of paperwork are archived and stored);
The reality that some implicated people today are still employed by NLC; and
A challenge for the legality on the Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is devoted to making certain finalisation in these matters. To this end, a team of focused prosecutors has been allotted to supervise all NLC matters at the moment beneath investigation,” de Kock stated. “Issues are dealt with as being a precedence. When [the] investigations are completed, the NPA is likely to make a decision.”

What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only in a position to get comment from among the five providers accused through the SIU in Parliament of manufacturing fraudulent once-a-year monetary statements,TTP Consulting.

Aubrey Moeng, considered one of TTP’s two administrators, said in an e-mail in response to inquiries: “As a consequence of shopper confidentiality, we wish to advise that TTP Consulting just isn't ready to divulge customers’ monetary private information and facts with the general public or media … without the consent from the client or a lawful purpose.”

The company is often a “associate” of a number of point out entities, which includes SARS as well as CIPC, In line with its website.

Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, who will be both shown as inactive over the CIPC sign up of businesses, responded to emailed inquiries. The corporate has been deregistered from the CIPC for failing to submit monetary statements given that 2021.

The sole director of Mageba Ntuli Trading and Consulting Service, Patrick Zulu, died a few yrs in the past, In accordance with official data. The business was deregistered from the CIPC for failing to post fiscal statements given that 2021.

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

GroundUp was not able to find any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Expert services With all the CIPC. We ended up also struggling to trace any of the organization’s administrators to request remark.