SIU swoops on accounting firm after lottery fraud tip-off

An accounting firm in Kimberley, Northern Cape, was raided on Wednesday as part of the R1.4bn lotteries investigation. 

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago, said they and the Hawks raided the firm in search of evidence to assist with the ongoing investigation into the affairs of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC). 

The SIU was granted a search and seizure warrant by the Kimberly magistrate's court in Northern Cape.

“This follows a tip-off received from a whistleblower suggesting that certain accounting firms and accountants were allegedly engaged in criminal activities by aiding NPOs [non-profit organisations] and NPCs [non-profit companies] in preparing and producing fraudulent financial statements,” said Kganyago. 

According to the SIU, one of the requirements for NLC grant funding in terms of the Lotteries Act is that an applicant must submit an audited financial statement together with a duly completed application form.  

Kganyago said the whistleblower alleged several NPOs and NPCs submitted fraudulent financial statements to the NLC. He said these documents were allegedly prepared, produced, and signed off by accounting firms’ directors or representatives of the accountants without any bank statements submitted to the accountants.

He added that the SIU was not at liberty to mention the name of the raided firm yet.  

“That is why we are not even mentioning the names of all these firms but we were told by the whistleblower that there are two law firms that were helping these NPOs with the documentation that they needed to apply. We won’t release the names at the moment until we are done [with the investigation] as now we are only doing a search and seizure to get the documentation and get laptops to verify what we are doing,” said Kganyago. 

mashalek@sowetan.co.za