SIU applies to extend lottery corruption probe

SIU applies to extend lottery corruption probe

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A choice around the Specific Investigation Unit’s (SIU) software to amend the 2020 Presidential Proclamation is anticipated by the end of February.
The original proclamation only authorized the SIU to research grants produced by the Nationwide Lotteries Fee (NLC) involving one January 2014 and 7 November 2020.
The SIU is looking for a mandate to analyze lottery-funded projects that drop outside the house that period.
Additionally, it needs to research fraud and corruption relevant to the NLC’s procurement of providers, which was not coated cat888 below the initial 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 call on the appliance via the Distinctive Investigating Device (SIU) for that amendment of the 2020 Presidential Proclamation mandating it to analyze corruption involving the Nationwide Lotteries Commission (NLC) and its employees, is predicted by the tip of the thirty day period.

This was confirmed via the Division of Justice’s spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi. “The determination was submitted for the Section late last 12 months and is particularly getting organized for submission to your Minister to suggest the authorisation with the Modification into the proclamation. A decision may be anticipated by the end of February 2025,” Masibi informed GroundUp.

The initial proclamation only allowed the SIU to research grants created by the NLC among 1 January 2014 and 7 November 2020. This left the SIU hamstrung when investigating fraud and corruption involving the NLC’s procurement of providers and appointment of support providers, which ran to hundreds of many rand.

In its drive to amend the proclamation, the SIU is in search of a mandate making it possible for it to investigate lottery-funded initiatives that drop exterior the interval lined by the first proclamation, since the NLC’s corruption continued following the proclamation was gazetted.

Although the SIU couldn’t specifically look into procurement, since the initial proclamation didn't include things like it, it seconded two of its officers to your NLC to help it in its investigations into dodgy procurement.

GroundUp has also uncovered the SIU along with the NLC not long ago signed a completely 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 from the SIU’s seconded officers and several damning investigations by impartial audit companies, signifies the SIU will have a soar start in the probe into procurement if the proclamation is extended.

The NLC as well as the SIU have also been inundated with suggestion-offs. Most are from whistleblowers about dodgy grant and provide chain management 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, related with, incidental or ancillary to your matters … or contain a similar individuals, entities or contracts”.

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

The SIU Formerly explained to GroundUp it had been investigating around 700 dodgy job grants, with much more suggestion-offs coming in. Various NLC team are dealing with disciplinary fees regarding 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 informed Parliament’s Trade, Market and Competitiveness portfolio committee that it was investigating dodgy lottery grants valued at over R1.4-billion. Final year SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi explained to the committee that the worth of dodgy grants below investigation had grown to over R2-billion.

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

Dodgy procurement
In 2023, the Auditor-Common instructed the NLC’s management to deal with “critical interior Handle deficiencies discovered to improve procurement and deal administration”. This arrived following the Auditor-Typical’s NLC audit in 2021 uncovered a lot more than R23-million in irregular expenditure and R36-million in accounting glitches produced in preceding decades. Items worsened the next calendar year, With all the Auditor-Basic’s 2022 management report within the NLC revealing nearly R57-million in irregular expenditure a result of the contravention of provide chain management laws.

Amongst the problems flagged in damning stories because of the Auditor-Standard, and by auditors appointed through the NLC, were irregular expenditure on information and facts know-how and sky-substantial shelling out on legal professionals. The NLC struggled to reply a composed parliamentary dilemma about its expenditure on legal costs, as critical data files with information of multimillion-rand litigation expenditure have vanished.

An additional spot of worry is definitely the tens of numerous rand in paying out on media and communications, with a disproportionate quantity compensated towards the Sunday Globe newspaper.

Numerous rand in dodgy payments had been also made to NLC company companies, which include a R498,000 payment to support provider Neo Consulting to analyze a pc hack that in no way transpired.

ProEthics, which suggested the NLC on ethics if the organisation was confused by rampant corruption, was also used to launder payments to support suppliers. The NLC compensated ProEthics around R28.four-million. The organization, in turn, claimed it paid out other assistance vendors over the NLC’s instructions — together with a R1.seven-million payment for your flash mob that hardly ever took place.

The findings of unbiased investigations commissioned via the NLC’s new board and government are already essential in formulating disciplinary costs from implicated workers, including NLC corporation secretary Nompumelelo Nene.

Nene is billed with alleged irregularities inside the appointments of and payments to quite a few services suppliers. She is usually accused of offering “Wrong or incomplete information in submissions justifying deviations from procurement processes”.