SIU relates to extend lottery corruption probe
SIU relates to extend lottery corruption probe
Blog Article
A decision to the Distinctive Investigation Unit’s (SIU) application to amend the 2020 Presidential Proclamation is predicted by the top of February.
The original proclamation only allowed the SIU to investigate grants created by the Nationwide Lotteries Commission (NLC) amongst one January 2014 and 7 November 2020.
The SIU is trying to get a mandate to analyze lottery-funded jobs that tumble exterior that interval.
It also wants to analyze fraud and corruption connected to the NLC’s procurement of products and services, which was not covered luckyvip77 below the original 2020 proclamation.
The NLC has had new management and board due to the fact 2022 and has been helping the SIU with its investigations.
A choice on the appliance because of the Special Investigating Device (SIU) for that amendment of the 2020 Presidential Proclamation mandating it to investigate corruption involving the Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) and its staff members, is expected by the top on the thirty day period.
This was confirmed because of the Department of Justice’s spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi. “The drive was submitted towards the Division late very last year and it is staying organized for submission towards the Minister to advise the authorisation on the Modification to your proclamation. A choice might be predicted by the end of February 2025,” Masibi informed GroundUp.
The original proclamation only authorized the SIU to research grants made by the NLC between one January 2014 and 7 November 2020. This remaining the SIU hamstrung when investigating fraud and corruption involving the NLC’s procurement of expert services and appointment of provider providers, which ran to many hundreds of a lot of rand.
In its determination to amend the proclamation, the SIU is seeking a mandate letting it to analyze lottery-funded tasks that slide outside the house the period lined by the initial proclamation, For the reason that NLC’s corruption ongoing once the proclamation was gazetted.
Even though the SIU couldn’t instantly look into procurement, simply because the original proclamation didn't involve it, it seconded two of its officers to your NLC to help it in its investigations into dodgy procurement.
GroundUp has also realized that the SIU and the NLC recently signed a completely new letter of engagement extending the relationship in between The 2 entities by a yr. Their deal expired at the end of December 2024.
The NLC’s probe, which includes the assistance with the SIU’s seconded officers and a number of other damning investigations by unbiased audit businesses, suggests the SIU may have a soar get started inside a probe into procurement If your proclamation is prolonged.
The NLC and the SIU have also been inundated with tip-offs. Many are from whistleblowers about dodgy grant and provide chain administration fraud and corruption, many of which happened after November 2020.
The 2020 proclamation includes an exception for the SIU to analyze alleged corruption that befell right before or following the date of its publication …“but is relevant to, linked with, incidental or ancillary for the issues … or entail the identical persons, entities or contracts”.
The SIU’s drive also seeks a mandate to investigate fraud and corruption involving the NLC’s offer chain administration as well as the procurement of services.
The SIU Formerly explained to GroundUp it was investigating above seven hundred dodgy challenge grants, with much more tip-offs coming in. Many NLC staff members are facing disciplinary costs about their alleged involvement in dodgy procurement. Other individuals resigned after they had been billed. The SIU has also claimed lots of People concerned towards the law enforcement.
In 2022 the SIU instructed Parliament’s Trade, Market and Opposition portfolio committee that it was investigating dodgy lottery grants valued at in excess of R1.4-billion. Very last year SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi instructed the committee that the value of dodgy grants beneath investigation experienced grown to in excess of R2-billion.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago declined to touch upon the application to extend the proclamation.
Dodgy procurement
In 2023, the Auditor-Standard instructed the NLC’s administration to deal with “essential inner Regulate deficiencies discovered to improve procurement and deal administration”. This arrived once the Auditor-Typical’s NLC audit in 2021 uncovered more than R23-million in irregular expenditure and R36-million in accounting errors made in previous many years. Things worsened the subsequent 12 months, Together with the Auditor-Basic’s 2022 administration report about the NLC revealing approximately R57-million in irregular expenditure due to the contravention of provide chain management laws.
Amid the issues flagged in damning stories with the Auditor-Basic, and by auditors appointed through the NLC, were irregular expenditure on facts know-how and sky-high expending on lawyers. The NLC struggled to reply a created parliamentary dilemma about its expenditure on legal expenses, as key information with facts of multimillion-rand litigation expenditure have vanished.
An additional spot of worry is the tens of numerous rand in shelling out on media and communications, by using a disproportionate volume paid out to the Sunday World newspaper.
Millions of rand in dodgy payments were being also manufactured to NLC support companies, including a R498,000 payment to provider company Neo Consulting to investigate a pc hack that under no circumstances transpired.
ProEthics, which recommended the NLC on ethics when the organisation was overwhelmed by rampant corruption, was also accustomed to launder payments to company providers. The NLC paid ProEthics in excess of R28.four-million. The corporation, in turn, stated it paid other support companies within the NLC’s Guidelines — like a R1.7-million payment to get a flash mob that never took place.
The results of independent investigations commissioned via the NLC’s new board and government have already been essential in formulating disciplinary rates from implicated personnel, such as NLC enterprise secretary Nompumelelo Nene.
Nene is charged with alleged irregularities while in the appointments of and payments to quite a few services companies. She is usually accused of supplying “Fake or incomplete facts in submissions justifying deviations from procurement procedures”.