SIU applies to prolong lottery corruption probe

SIU applies to prolong lottery corruption probe

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A decision within the Specific Investigation Unit’s (SIU) application to amend the 2020 Presidential Proclamation is predicted by the end of February.
The initial proclamation only authorized the SIU to analyze grants made by the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) among one January 2014 and seven November 2020.
The SIU is looking for a mandate to investigate lottery-funded assignments that slide exterior that period of time.
In addition it wishes to analyze fraud and corruption relevant to the NLC’s procurement of expert services, which was not covered fox888 underneath the initial 2020 proclamation.
The NLC has had new management and board given that 2022 and has become assisting the SIU with its investigations.
A decision on the applying because of the Specific Investigating Unit (SIU) for the Modification of the 2020 Presidential Proclamation mandating it to research corruption involving the National Lotteries Fee (NLC) and its workers, is predicted by the end with the month.

This was verified by the Section of Justice’s spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi. “The motivation was submitted on the Office late final 12 months and is particularly getting geared up for submission into the Minister to suggest the authorisation in the amendment on the proclamation. A choice might be predicted by the tip of February 2025,” Masibi advised GroundUp.

The original proclamation only allowed the SIU to analyze grants created by the NLC among 1 January 2014 and seven November 2020. This still left the SIU hamstrung when investigating fraud and corruption involving the NLC’s procurement of providers and appointment of services vendors, which ran to countless numerous rand.

In its motivation to amend the proclamation, the SIU is trying to get 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 continued after the proclamation was gazetted.

Although the SIU couldn’t immediately investigate procurement, due to the fact the initial proclamation did not contain it, it seconded two of its officials for the NLC to assist it in its investigations into dodgy procurement.

GroundUp has also realized that the SIU and the NLC recently signed a new letter of engagement extending the connection among The 2 entities by a 12 months. Their contract expired at the conclusion of December 2024.

The NLC’s probe, which includes the guidance in the SIU’s seconded officers and several damning investigations by impartial audit companies, suggests the SIU may have a soar start within a probe into procurement Should the proclamation is extended.

The NLC and also the SIU have also been inundated with suggestion-offs. Many are from whistleblowers about dodgy grant and supply chain management fraud and corruption, a few of which transpired right after November 2020.

The 2020 proclamation involves an exception for that SIU to research alleged corruption that occurred just before or after the day of its publication …“but is appropriate to, connected with, incidental or ancillary to the issues … or include the same people, entities or contracts”.

The SIU’s determination also seeks a mandate to analyze fraud and corruption involving the NLC’s provide chain administration and also the procurement of products and services.

The SIU Formerly instructed GroundUp it was investigating above seven hundred dodgy challenge grants, with a lot more suggestion-offs coming in. Various NLC team are facing disciplinary costs regarding their alleged involvement in dodgy procurement. Other folks resigned once they have been charged. The SIU has also reported most of Those people included on the police.

In 2022 the SIU told Parliament’s Trade, Field and Level of competition portfolio committee that it had been investigating dodgy lottery grants valued at more than R1.four-billion. Final calendar year SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi informed the committee that the worth of dodgy grants below investigation experienced developed to above 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 inside Command deficiencies discovered to improve procurement and contract management”. This arrived once the Auditor-General’s NLC audit in 2021 uncovered over R23-million in irregular expenditure and R36-million in accounting mistakes created in earlier a long time. Items worsened the following calendar year, While using the Auditor-Standard’s 2022 management report on the NLC revealing just about R57-million in irregular expenditure due to contravention of supply chain administration laws.

Amid the problems flagged in damning studies by the Auditor-Standard, and by auditors appointed by the NLC, have been irregular expenditure on information and facts engineering and sky-significant expending on lawyers. The NLC struggled to reply a written parliamentary query about its expenditure on legal fees, as important files with particulars of multimillion-rand litigation expenditure have vanished.

An additional area of issue is definitely the tens of many rand in paying out on media and communications, using a disproportionate quantity compensated for the Sunday World newspaper.

A lot of rand in dodgy payments had been also built to NLC services suppliers, such as a R498,000 payment to provider service provider Neo Consulting to investigate a computer hack that never ever took place.

ProEthics, which encouraged the NLC on ethics in the event the organisation was confused by rampant corruption, was also utilized to launder payments to service providers. The NLC compensated ProEthics over R28.four-million. The corporation, subsequently, claimed it paid out other support providers on the NLC’s Guidance — together with a R1.7-million payment to get a flash mob that never took place.

The findings of impartial investigations commissioned by the NLC’s new board and government have been significant in formulating disciplinary costs from implicated employees, which include NLC company secretary Nompumelelo Nene.

Nene is charged with alleged irregularities while in the appointments of and payments to quite a few services companies. She can be accused of giving “Phony or incomplete information and facts in submissions justifying deviations from procurement procedures”.