SIU relates to prolong lottery corruption probe

SIU relates to prolong lottery corruption probe

Blog Article

A choice around the Particular Investigation Device’s (SIU) application to amend the 2020 Presidential Proclamation is anticipated by the tip of February.
The first proclamation only authorized the SIU to analyze grants produced by the Countrywide Lotteries Fee (NLC) between one January 2014 and seven November 2020.
The SIU is searching for a mandate to research lottery-funded tasks that drop outside that period.
In addition, it desires to investigate fraud and corruption related to the NLC’s procurement of services, which wasn't covered ตรวจ less than the first 2020 proclamation.
The NLC has experienced new management and board considering that 2022 and has become aiding the SIU with its investigations.
A decision on the applying with the Particular Investigating Unit (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 tip from the month.

This was verified from the Section of Justice’s spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi. “The motivation was submitted on the Office late last yr which is remaining ready for submission for the Minister to propose the authorisation with the Modification to your proclamation. A choice might be predicted by the tip 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 making it possible for it to analyze lottery-funded tasks that slide outside the house the period lined by the initial proclamation, Considering that the NLC’s corruption ongoing once the proclamation was gazetted.

Even though the SIU couldn’t directly investigate procurement, simply because the original proclamation didn't include it, it seconded two of its officers into the NLC to aid it in its investigations into dodgy procurement.

GroundUp has also figured out the SIU as well as the NLC not too long ago signed a brand new letter of engagement extending the connection amongst the two entities by a 12 months. Their contract expired at the end of December 2024.

The NLC’s probe, which incorporates the support of the SIU’s seconded officers and several other damning investigations by independent audit providers, implies the SIU should have a jump start off inside of a probe into procurement In the event the proclamation is extended.

The NLC plus the SIU have also been inundated with idea-offs. Most are from whistleblowers about dodgy grant and provide chain administration fraud and corruption, several of which transpired immediately after November 2020.

The 2020 proclamation features an exception with the SIU to analyze alleged corruption that passed off in advance of or following the date of its publication …“but is relevant to, linked with, incidental or ancillary for the issues … or require precisely the same persons, entities or contracts”.

The SIU’s commitment also seeks a mandate to research fraud and corruption involving the NLC’s source chain management plus the procurement of providers.

The SIU Earlier told GroundUp it had been investigating about seven-hundred dodgy venture grants, with additional idea-offs coming in. Several NLC employees are going through disciplinary prices with regards to their alleged involvement in dodgy procurement. Many others resigned when they ended up billed. The SIU has also documented a lot of These involved into the law enforcement.

In 2022 the SIU advised Parliament’s Trade, Business and Competitors portfolio committee that it absolutely 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 underneath investigation experienced grown to about R2-billion.

SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago declined to touch upon the application to extend the proclamation.

Dodgy procurement
In 2023, the Auditor-Typical instructed the NLC’s management to address “critical interior control deficiencies recognized to enhance procurement and agreement management”. This came following the Auditor-Standard’s NLC audit in 2021 uncovered in excess of R23-million in irregular expenditure and R36-million in accounting faults built in former decades. Points worsened the next yr, Using the Auditor-General’s 2022 administration report within the NLC revealing almost R57-million in irregular expenditure due to the contravention of offer chain management legislation.

Among the the issues flagged in damning stories through the Auditor-Typical, and by auditors appointed through the NLC, were being irregular expenditure on info technological know-how and sky-higher shelling out on attorneys. The NLC struggled to reply a penned parliamentary question about its expenditure on legal fees, as important files with particulars of multimillion-rand litigation expenditure have vanished.

Yet another region of concern is the tens of millions of rand in spending on media and communications, which has a disproportionate total paid into the Sunday Entire world newspaper.

Numerous rand in dodgy payments were being also manufactured to NLC service companies, together with a R498,000 payment to provider service provider Neo Consulting to investigate a computer hack that never ever transpired.

ProEthics, which encouraged the NLC on ethics when the organisation was overwhelmed by rampant corruption, was also used to launder payments to support companies. The NLC paid out ProEthics above R28.4-million. The business, in turn, mentioned it paid other service vendors over the NLC’s Guidance — which include 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 govt are actually significant in formulating disciplinary prices from implicated workers, which include NLC enterprise secretary Nompumelelo Nene.

Nene is billed with alleged irregularities while in the appointments of and payments to a number of company companies. She is usually accused of delivering “false or incomplete data in submissions justifying deviations from procurement procedures”.