The department of forestry, fisheries and the environment has referred 86 cases relating to alleged irregular expenditure to its labour relations division.

The cases emanate from the irregular expenditure of more than R2bn recorded by the department in the 2020/21 financial year, which arose from contracts entered into in 2017/2018.

This was revealed by minister Barbara Creecy who was responding to a parliamentary question posed to her by the EFF’s Andrew Arnolds.

Arnolds wanted to know if the department had investigated any cases of irregular expenditure.

Creecy said the determination committee considered the circumstances and root causes of irregular expenditure, and that the National Treasury had already condoned 15 cases, involving more than R300m.

According to Creecy, there were 16 cases, amounting to more than R27m that were subject to the determination process and were found to not meet the criteria for irregular expenditure.

“These will also be removed from the irregular expenditure figures. However, appropriate measures to address the non-compliance will still be applicable for these,” Creecy said in her written response.

The minister also highlighted that there are 32 cases amounting to more than R150m currently under determination and assessment.

“The process to clear the irregular expenditure is continuous as some projects are for multiple years.”

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