The Hawks have arrested a pensioner for allegedly stealing Covid-19 relief money.
PHOTO: Felix Dlangamandla, Gallo Images, Netwerk24
- A pensioner from Hammanskraal allegedly skimmed
almost R5 million from the Covid-19 UIF fund. - To date, the Hawks have arrested 14 people for
similar offences. - This includes three cops who allegedly stole almost
R700 000 from the fund.
A 62-year-old pensioner from Hammanskraal scored a
sizeable extra pension of R4.7 million by allegedly stealing the money from the
UIF’s Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS).
The Hawks Serious Corruption Investigation unit
arrested him in Hammanskraal on Sunday for alleged fraud and theft. This brings
the number of arrested people linked to UIF TERS fraud to 14, said Hawks
spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi.
Some of the suspects were out on bail, while the
62-year-old pensioner will be charged with fraud, and alternatively with theft
and money laundering.
The pensioner was arrested after he allegedly
failed to disclose that he became an instant millionaire with money that was
meant to remunerate employees of a company that will be disclosed in court
papers.
“It is understood the suspect worked for the
same company and allegedly used the same reference number from his previous
employers to apply for his UIF payout. It was later found after numerous
enquiries by the company that the money was actually paid, but was redirected
to the suspect’s account,” Mulaudzi said.
A case was registered and almost R4.6 million has
already been recovered. He allegedly used almost R100 000 on himself.
He is expected to appear in the Pretoria
Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Monday.
Three cops arrested
In a separate case, Sergeant Thokozane Mchunu, 34,
Sergeant Nqobile Witness Mzimela, 39, and Sboniso Percival Khanyile, 25, will
also be appearing in the same court on Monday after they were arrested last
week in Durban for alleged fraud and money laundering of R692 000, also linked
to the same Covid-19 UIF fund.
National Adhesive applied for relief funds for
their employees. However, it emerged that the company’s banking details were
fraudulently changed and the R692 000 was redirected to another bank account. It
was ultimately found that the account allegedly belonged to Mchunu, from the
Durban Central Tactical Response Team.
He allegedly transferred the money to Mzimela and
Khanyile. Almost R240 000 has already been frozen, a bakkie and an open piece
of land were also seized and are expected to be forfeited to the state.
National head of the Directorate for Priority Crime
Investigation (DPCI), Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya, has hailed the team
for speedily arresting and bringing suspects to court.
This would not have been possible without a
collective effort and the assistance of the National Prosecuting Authority,
Asset Forfeiture Unit, Financial Intelligence Centre, Priority Crime
Specialised Investigation and the intelligence community, he said.
“Pensioners are supposed to be role models to
their children and grandchildren. Without suggesting the guilt on the suspect,
the behaviour in this manner suggest a bad role model,” said Lebeya.
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