Experts have welcomed the addition of a new indicator that shows how much money the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is recovering that was lost to corruption in the public sector‚ but warned that more needs to be done.
In its 2014/2015 annual report which was recently tabled in Parliament‚ the NPA's Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) said it had set itself a target of recovering R100000 in the 2014/2015 financial year from government officials convicted of corruption and related offences.
However‚ it reported that it recovered R11.1-million for the period.
The NPA attributed the success to improved investigation of the cases by the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit and increased use of non-conviction based forfeiture to speed up cases.
But the recovery by the NPA still falls far short of estimates of public sector corruption which is said to have increased from R130-million in 2006/'07 to over R1-billion in 2011/'12.
The NPA said its target had been set so low because there was limited historical data available to set a realistic target for the Anti-Corruption Task Team when this was done some time ago in the government’s Medium Term Strategic Framework. The task team is a presidential initiative to fight corruption and it works on the multi-agency format.
Steven Powell‚ head of forensics at law firm ENSafrica‚ said the introduction of the new indicator was a positive step as it meant the NPA was monitoring the recovery of money as a result of corruption in the public sector.
“The monitoring will help put this information into the spotlight‚ but this is not enough‚” Powell said.
Powell said government needed to take stronger action in the public sector to recover the money.
“The private sector must also take responsibility by developing internal controls to mitigate the risk of bribery in its business activities and to ensure that its officials do not bribe public officials.”
Peter Allwright‚ director at forensic firm Horizon Forensics‚ said the inclusion of the new indicator was a good start.
He suggested that police work more closely with the AFU to effect more recoveries.
In one of the successes listed by the NPA in its annual report‚ two justice department officials were convicted of multiple counts of fraud‚ money laundering and racketeering after conning the department out of more than R3-million.
A senior accountant at the department‚ Lovelock Modiba‚ was sentenced to an effective 10 years in prison and a confiscation order to the value of R750000 was secured against his pension. His accomplice Floyd Vumani was sentenced to a five-year term.
Powell also warned that the figures on corruption were not reliable because corruption was under-reported and sometimes never detected.
R11m coughed up by corrupt officials is drop in ocean
Experts have welcomed the addition of a new indicator that shows how much money the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is recovering that was lost to corruption in the public sector‚ but warned that more needs to be done.
In its 2014/2015 annual report which was recently tabled in Parliament‚ the NPA's Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) said it had set itself a target of recovering R100000 in the 2014/2015 financial year from government officials convicted of corruption and related offences.
However‚ it reported that it recovered R11.1-million for the period.
The NPA attributed the success to improved investigation of the cases by the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit and increased use of non-conviction based forfeiture to speed up cases.
But the recovery by the NPA still falls far short of estimates of public sector corruption which is said to have increased from R130-million in 2006/'07 to over R1-billion in 2011/'12.
The NPA said its target had been set so low because there was limited historical data available to set a realistic target for the Anti-Corruption Task Team when this was done some time ago in the government’s Medium Term Strategic Framework. The task team is a presidential initiative to fight corruption and it works on the multi-agency format.
Steven Powell‚ head of forensics at law firm ENSafrica‚ said the introduction of the new indicator was a positive step as it meant the NPA was monitoring the recovery of money as a result of corruption in the public sector.
“The monitoring will help put this information into the spotlight‚ but this is not enough‚” Powell said.
Powell said government needed to take stronger action in the public sector to recover the money.
“The private sector must also take responsibility by developing internal controls to mitigate the risk of bribery in its business activities and to ensure that its officials do not bribe public officials.”
Peter Allwright‚ director at forensic firm Horizon Forensics‚ said the inclusion of the new indicator was a good start.
He suggested that police work more closely with the AFU to effect more recoveries.
In one of the successes listed by the NPA in its annual report‚ two justice department officials were convicted of multiple counts of fraud‚ money laundering and racketeering after conning the department out of more than R3-million.
A senior accountant at the department‚ Lovelock Modiba‚ was sentenced to an effective 10 years in prison and a confiscation order to the value of R750000 was secured against his pension. His accomplice Floyd Vumani was sentenced to a five-year term.
Powell also warned that the figures on corruption were not reliable because corruption was under-reported and sometimes never detected.
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