The Specific Investigating Unit has identified five accounting companies that helped loot Lottery cash. Graphic: Lisa Nelson

The Specific Investigating Unit has discovered five accounting and auditing corporations that helped non-revenue firms loot Lottery income intended for “great results in”.
The accounting firms compiled fraudulent money statements used by these firms to apply for Lottery funding, the SIU told Parliament.
Performing Main countrywide investigations officer Zodwa Xesibe stated the SIU would take motion to own these firms blacklisted.
A 4-yr probe from the หวย วัน นี้ Special Investigating Device (SIU) has uncovered five accounting and auditing firms that served dodgy non-financial gain providers loot many hundreds of many rands intended for “excellent causes” within the Lottery.

These corporations were being described via the SIU as “Skilled enablers,” who “compiled fraudulent money statements” which were employed by the businesses to apply for Lottery funding.

The 5 providers were named in Parliament with the SIU’s acting chief 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 made by these five accounting corporations aided practically forty organizations get their arms on lottery funding, according to the SIU presentation.

Determined by a Resource that contains facts with all lottery grants considering that 2002, these providers acquired above R314-million in funding.

“These NPCs were being funded through the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) but the resources weren't employed for his or her intended purpose,” Xesibe informed Parliament’s Trade, Sector and Opposition Portfolio Committee final 7 days.

The SIU, the Hawks as well as the Countrywide Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have been in Parliament to report back to the committee on development in bringing individuals and organisations involved with looting the lottery to e book.

Xesibe instructed GroundUp that the SIU intended to lodge issues against the accounting firms included and was examining if these corporations were being registered and, In that case, with which Experienced bodies.

“We want these corporations to be blacklisted,” she told GroundUp.

To qualify for Lottery funding, an organisation was required to deliver two decades of yearly economical statements, Xesibe discussed in Parliament.

Nonetheless, being an ongoing 6-year investigation into lottery corruption by GroundUp has uncovered, hijacked non-gain organisations (NPOs) or new shelf non-revenue firms (NPCs) without having financial track records had been used to apply for funding.

In some situations, Nearly identical economical statements were being generated for unrelated organisations, typically with only the names of your organisations adjusted, GroundUp’s investigation identified.

Files submitted by authentic NPCs for unsuccessful grant applications ended up frequently utilized by new or hijacked NPCs and NPOs to apply for funding. The small print and files in the unsuccessful applicants were being supplied by senior Lottery officials on the dodgy applicants.

With cursory or - normally - no verification, these dodgy applicants were awarded a lot of rands in grants. Sometimes extra tranches of money have been paid out out with no Substantially examining about the progress of projects.

The overwhelming majority of those grants have been created by way of proactive funding, which was at the guts on the looting in the lottery. Proactive funding authorized the Minister of Trade, Marketplace and Level of competition, or even the NLC in conjunction with its board, to establish leads to to fund without the need of very first necessitating an software. This was stopped when a new NLC board was appointed.

R2-billion in grants beneath investigation
SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi claimed the SIU was currently investigating grants valued at more than R2-billion, along with the device was still on a regular basis receiving suggestion-offs about more corruption.

He advised MPs the SIU’s investigation had been broken into three phases: the very first, that has been finalised, probed dodgy grants amounting to R280-million, and the next, also finished, involved R247-million. During the third section, as a consequence of be finalised at the end of the calendar year, the SIU is investigating grants valued at Practically R906-million, involving forty NPOs and NPCs, Mothibi mentioned.

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

The SIU investigation had up to now brought about 13 disciplinary referrals to your NLC, and administrative referrals to SARS and the businesses and Mental Houses Fee to blacklist men and women implicated from the looting. Issues involving two persons had been referred towards the Lawful Exercise Council along with the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The SIU had noticed many trends underneath the preceding NLC board and executive - lots of whom are already implicated in looting - Mothibi informed MPs.

This bundled a “pattern of collusion concerning NLC officials and NPOs and NPCs”, “the hijacking of NPOs and NPCs” and “standard maladministration in the approval of grants,” he claimed.

Gradual development from the NPA
The SIU has frozen properties, Houses, cars and also other property worthy of tens of tens of millions which were purchased with lottery money, but MPs expressed concern at gradual development in prosecuting People involved with the looting. (The SIU is mandated only to Recuperate assets purchased with stolen state resources and does not have prosecuting powers).

Whilst the SIU has referred fifteen matters to the NPA, thus far only two people have been introduced prior to a court docket. Two Guys appeared in court docket in Kimberley not too long ago in reference to misappropriated funds collected for your venture to overcome gender-based violence.

In August 2022 Christopher Tshivule was sentenced to eight a long time in jail for his aspect in a R1.5-million lottery grant fraud. Costs towards two men and women billed with him, who the SIU has referred to as “kingpins” while in the corruption that overcome the NLC, have been dropped.

Main-Basic Mmeli Makinyane, the acting divisional commissioner for precedence offences, instructed MPs the Hawks were currently investigating sixteen lottery corruption-connected instances. A further just one - the Kimberley issue - is before a courtroom and two happen to be despatched into the NPA for a choice to prosecute. An additional 5 instances are now being investigated via the SAPS detective and forensic companies, he claimed.

Explaining the reasons for the delay in prosecutions, NPA Deputy National Director Rodney de Kock stated Portion of The explanation was the Hawks had to do additional investigations once they obtained dossiers in the SIU.

“In essence, the investigations carried out from the SIU tend not to satisfy felony criteria for prosecutions.”

For that reason, the NPA had to work with investigators within the DPCI (the Hawks) and SAPS to conduct prison investigations and make sure that the evidence fulfills prison prosecution expectations, he stated, introducing: “That said, the do the job on the SIU is essential and contributes greatly to this process.”

De Kock stated the SIU’s investigation “generally brings about numerous referrals. The referrals may possibly ultimately lead to one particular docket and just one courtroom scenario.”

He explained that 12 issues, which can be “around eighty five% finish”, ended up getting jointly investigated from the Hawks and also the SIU’s Specialised Financial Functions Unit. (A large number of scenarios, 7 of which ended up lodged in 2020, include previous NLC Main functioning officer Phillemon Letwaba, who resigned beneath a cloud in 2022, and Pretoria law firm Leslie Ramulifho.)

De Kock said the NPA faced various “difficulties” in prosecuting situations. These, he claimed, bundled

the lapse of your time between once the offences had been dedicated along with the issuing with the Presidential Proclamation on 1 November 2020;
“unavailability of witnesses and/or documentary evidence” (Before this 12 months, the SIU instructed the committee that critical paperwork required in certain prosecutions were deleted from your NLC Pc system or had gone missing from Metrofile, a warehouse exactly where copies of files are archived and stored);
the fact that some implicated individuals remain used by NLC; and
A challenge to your legality in the Presidential Proclamation by previous NLC chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
“The NPA is committed to making certain finalisation in these issues. To this end, a crew of focused prosecutors continues to be allotted to oversee all NLC matters now beneath investigation,” de Kock explained. “Issues are dealt with to be a precedence. At the time [the] investigations are done, the NPA is likely to make a choice.”

What the companies say (or don’t)
GroundUp was only capable of get comment from among the 5 providers accused with the SIU in Parliament of producing fraudulent yearly economic statements,TTP Consulting.

Aubrey Moeng, certainly one of TTP’s two administrators, stated within an email in response to issues: “On account of shopper confidentiality, we wish to advise that TTP Consulting is not really prepared to disclose customers’ fiscal confidential data with the general public or media … with no consent of your shopper or a lawful reason.”

The organization is really a “companion” of a number of point out entities, which include 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 thoughts. The organization has actually been deregistered by the CIPC for failing to submit economic statements due to the fact 2021.

The only real director of Mageba Ntuli Investing and Consulting Assistance, Patrick Zulu, died 3 yrs in the past, As outlined by official records. The company was deregistered from the CIPC for failing to post fiscal statements considering that 2021.

Matamela Magodi, the sole director of Magodi Consultants, didn't respond to issues emailed to him.

GroundUp was unable to find any listing for Tafta Consulting and Accounting Expert services With all the CIPC. We were also not able to trace any of the corporation’s directors to ask for comment.