The Specific Investigating Device has determined 5 accounting companies that served loot Lottery funds. Graphic: Lisa Nelson

The Exclusive Investigating Device has recognized five accounting and auditing companies that aided non-revenue corporations loot Lottery cash intended for “very good results in”.
The accounting corporations compiled fraudulent financial statements used by these businesses to apply for Lottery funding, the SIU told Parliament.
Performing Main national investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe stated the SIU would take motion to get these firms blacklisted.
A 4-year probe via the เช ค หวย Particular Investigating Unit (SIU) has exposed 5 accounting and auditing companies that assisted dodgy non-revenue firms loot many many rands intended for “fantastic brings about” through the Lottery.

These firms were explained through the SIU as “Expert enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent financial statements” which were used by the companies 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 Expert services.

Fraudulent financials made by these 5 accounting corporations served almost 40 businesses get their fingers on lottery funding, according to the SIU presentation.

Determined by a Resource that contains knowledge with all lottery grants due to the fact 2002, these firms acquired in excess of R314-million in funding.

“These NPCs had been funded from the Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) but the cash were not made use of for their meant objective,” Xesibe instructed Parliament’s Trade, Market and Competitors Portfolio Committee very last 7 days.

The SIU, the Hawks as well as the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) were being in Parliament to report to the committee on progress in bringing folks and organisations involved with looting the lottery to e book.

Xesibe told GroundUp that the SIU meant to lodge problems against the accounting corporations associated and was examining if these companies had been registered and, In that case, with which Skilled bodies.

“We want these companies to generally be blacklisted,” she instructed GroundUp.

To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was necessary to produce two decades of annual financial statements, Xesibe spelled out in Parliament.

Even so, being an ongoing six-yr investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has revealed, hijacked non-income organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-profit organizations (NPCs) without monetary monitor information had been utilized to make an application for funding.

In some cases, Just about identical monetary statements ended up created for unrelated organisations, typically with just the names with the organisations adjusted, GroundUp’s investigation observed.

Paperwork submitted by genuine NPCs for unsuccessful grant applications were being often employed by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to apply for funding. The main points and documents of the unsuccessful applicants had been equipped by senior Lottery officers to the dodgy applicants.

With cursory or - generally - no verification, these dodgy applicants had been awarded countless rands in grants. In some cases further tranches of resources were paid out with no A lot examining around the progress of initiatives.

The vast majority of such grants had been designed by way of proactive funding, which was at the center with the looting of your lottery. Proactive funding authorized the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, or the NLC along with its board, to establish leads to to fund with no initially necessitating an software. This was stopped any time a new NLC board was appointed.

R2-billion in grants underneath investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi explained the SIU was at the moment investigating grants valued at in excess of R2-billion, and also the unit was even now consistently acquiring idea-offs about additional corruption.

He explained to MPs the SIU’s investigation had been broken into a few phases: the main, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the second, also completed, associated R247-million. While in the third period, resulting from be finalised at the end of the 12 months, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Virtually R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi stated.

He claimed that the SIU would use “before long” for your Presidential Proclamation, initially granted in Oct 2020 to analyze corruption involving lottery grants, to become extended to incorporate procurement via the NLC.

The SIU investigation had up to now resulted in 13 disciplinary referrals on the NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Intellectual Homes Commission to blacklist men and women implicated from the looting. Issues involving two persons had been referred for the Legal Observe Council as well as SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The SIU experienced observed several tendencies under the previous NLC board and government - many of whom have been implicated in looting - Mothibi instructed MPs.

This incorporated a “development of collusion among NLC officers and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “common maladministration from the acceptance of grants,” he mentioned.

Sluggish development via the NPA
The SIU has frozen homes, Homes, autos and other assets really worth tens of hundreds of thousands that were bought with lottery resources, but MPs expressed issue at sluggish progress in prosecuting These involved in the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Get better property bought with stolen point out cash and does not have prosecuting powers).

Though the SIU has referred 15 issues on the NPA, up to now only two folks have been brought in advance of a court. Two Adult men appeared in court in Kimberley not long ago in reference to misappropriated money collected for just a undertaking to beat gender-primarily based violence.

In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight yrs in jail for his section inside a R1.5-million lottery grant fraud. Fees versus two individuals charged with him, who the SIU has described as “kingpins” inside the corruption that overcome the NLC, have been dropped.

Key-Normal Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for priority offences, told MPs which the Hawks were being now investigating 16 lottery corruption-connected instances. An additional one - the Kimberley make any difference - is ahead of a court and two are actually sent into the NPA for a choice to prosecute. An additional 5 circumstances are increasingly being investigated from the SAPS detective and forensic products and services, he stated.

Outlining The explanations with the hold off in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock stated Section of The rationale was which the Hawks needed to do even further investigations every time they been given 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 from the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to conduct prison investigations and be certain that the proof fulfills prison prosecution specifications, he reported, including: “Having said that, the work on the SIU is important and contributes tremendously to this method.”

De Kock claimed which the SIU’s investigation “frequently leads to a number of referrals. The referrals may well finally bring about one docket and one court docket scenario.”

He claimed that 12 matters, which are “approximately eighty five% full”, had been being jointly investigated via the Hawks plus the SIU’s Specialised Economic Functions Device. (The majority of these instances, 7 of which were lodged in 2020, entail previous NLC Main operating officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned beneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria attorney Leslie Ramulifho.)

De Kock said the NPA faced numerous “worries” in prosecuting instances. These, he mentioned, provided

the lapse of time amongst if the offences ended up dedicated along with the issuing on the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary proof” (Previously this yr, the SIU informed the committee that important files wanted in some prosecutions were deleted through the NLC Pc system or had long gone missing from Metrofile, a warehouse wherever copies of documents are archived and saved);
The point that some implicated men and women remain employed by NLC; and
A challenge on the legality of your Presidential Proclamation by former NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to making certain finalisation in these matters. To this conclusion, a workforce of dedicated prosecutors continues to be allocated to oversee all NLC issues currently under investigation,” de Kock stated. “Matters are taken care of to be a precedence. The moment [the] investigations are concluded, the NPA can make a decision.”

What the businesses say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable to get comment from one of the 5 businesses 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: “As a consequence of client confidentiality, we desire to suggest that TTP Consulting is not really prepared to disclose customers’ economic confidential data with the public or media … without the consent from the consumer or perhaps a legal purpose.”

The company is a “partner” of several point out entities, like SARS as well as the CIPC, Based on its Web-site.

Neither of the two administrators of Dzata Accountants, who are both equally outlined as inactive to the CIPC register of firms, responded to emailed questions. The business has long been deregistered from the CIPC for failing to submit fiscal statements considering the fact that 2021.

The only real director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Service, Patrick Zulu, died a few years back, according to Formal data. The business was deregistered with the CIPC for failing to submit economical statements considering the fact that 2021.

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

GroundUp was struggling to uncover any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Providers with the CIPC. We have been also struggling to trace any of the organization’s administrators to request remark.