A decision around the Special Investigation Unit’s (SIU) application to amend the 2020 Presidential Proclamation is expected by the top of February.
The original proclamation only authorized the SIU to investigate grants created by the National Lotteries Fee (NLC) among one January 2014 and 7 November 2020.
The SIU is trying to get a mandate to investigate lottery-funded assignments that slide outside the house that period.
In addition, it desires to investigate fraud and corruption related to the NLC’s procurement of services, which wasn't protected หวย underneath the initial 2020 proclamation.
The NLC has had new management and board because 2022 and is assisting the SIU with its investigations.
A call on the appliance through the Special Investigating Device (SIU) for your Modification of a 2020 Presidential Proclamation mandating it to analyze corruption involving the Nationwide Lotteries Fee (NLC) and its staff, is predicted by the end with the month.
This was confirmed via the Department of Justice’s spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi. “The drive was submitted towards the Division late very last calendar year and it is currently being organized for submission to the Minister to suggest the authorisation in the amendment for the proclamation. A decision may be expected by the top of February 2025,” Masibi explained to GroundUp.
The initial proclamation only allowed the SIU to investigate grants created by the NLC amongst 1 January 2014 and seven November 2020. This left the SIU hamstrung when investigating fraud and corruption involving the NLC’s procurement of solutions and appointment of service suppliers, which ran to numerous millions of rand.
In its drive to amend the proclamation, the SIU is searching for a mandate allowing it to investigate lottery-funded initiatives that tumble outside the time period lined by the first 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 to your NLC to help it in its investigations into dodgy procurement.
GroundUp has also uncovered that the SIU and also the NLC lately signed a new letter of engagement extending the connection among The 2 entities by a yr. Their deal expired at the end of December 2024.
The NLC’s probe, which incorporates the guidance in the SIU’s seconded officers and several damning investigations by impartial audit providers, implies the SIU should have a jump start off inside of a probe into procurement When the proclamation is extended.
The NLC along with 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 occurred right after November 2020.
The 2020 proclamation contains an exception for your SIU to investigate alleged corruption that took place before or once the date of its publication …“but is relevant to, related with, incidental or ancillary on the matters … or require 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 instructed GroundUp it absolutely was investigating above seven hundred dodgy challenge grants, with much more tip-offs coming in. Many NLC staff members are struggling with disciplinary charges about their alleged involvement in dodgy procurement. Other people resigned after they were billed. The SIU has also described a lot of These involved into the law enforcement.
In 2022 the SIU informed Parliament’s Trade, Industry and Competition portfolio committee that it had been investigating dodgy lottery grants valued at more than R1.four-billion. Last 12 months SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi told the committee that the worth of dodgy grants less than investigation had grown to around R2-billion.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago declined to comment on the appliance to extend the proclamation.
Dodgy procurement
In 2023, the Auditor-Typical instructed the NLC’s management to address “crucial inside Command deficiencies identified to improve procurement and contract management”. This arrived once the Auditor-General’s NLC audit in 2021 uncovered greater than R23-million in irregular expenditure and R36-million in accounting mistakes produced in prior many years. Things worsened the subsequent 12 months, Together with the Auditor-Basic’s 2022 administration report about the NLC revealing practically R57-million in irregular expenditure because of the contravention of offer chain management legislation.
Among the the issues flagged in damning stories from the Auditor-Normal, and by auditors appointed from the NLC, ended up irregular expenditure on information technological innovation and sky-superior investing on lawyers. The NLC struggled to answer a composed parliamentary issue about its expenditure on authorized costs, as essential documents with information of multimillion-rand litigation expenditure have vanished.
One more spot of problem will be the tens of countless rand in spending on media and communications, which has a disproportionate volume paid to your Sunday Entire world newspaper.
Countless rand in dodgy payments ended up also produced to NLC company providers, which include a R498,000 payment to services supplier Neo Consulting to analyze a pc hack that by no means occurred.
ProEthics, which recommended the NLC on ethics if the organisation was overcome by rampant corruption, was also accustomed to launder payments to assistance vendors. The NLC paid out ProEthics about R28.four-million. The corporate, consequently, mentioned it paid other service vendors to the NLC’s Recommendations — like a R1.7-million payment for just a flash mob that under no circumstances occurred.
The conclusions of independent investigations commissioned via the NLC’s new board and government have been critical in formulating disciplinary costs from implicated staff, which include NLC company secretary Nompumelelo Nene.
Nene is charged with alleged irregularities while in the appointments of and payments to several services companies. She can be accused of giving “Phony or incomplete information in submissions justifying deviations from procurement procedures”.