Cape Town - A Lansdowne business was one of the establishments visited by UIF commissioner, Teboho Maruping who joined forensic auditors for Phase Two of the “follow the money” project.
Forensic auditors knocked on the doors of employers who benefited from the Covid-19 TERS Relief Scheme in Cape Town and on Thursday visited Rickard Air Diffusion in Lansdowne.
According to Maruping the process of auditing employers is quite intricate and can take up to five days before a preliminary view is formed for an employer to respond to.
During the visit, Maruping said he hoped the audit he joined will show a positive picture that proves that “we have good corporate citizens that does things right.”
The decision to join and intensify the audits came after the successful conviction of two directors of a company who defrauded the UIF of R10.6 million worth of Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Covid-19 TERS) funds.
The directors have been sentenced to 10 years’ direct imprisonment and a fine of R600 000 respectively.
Their conviction followed a joint investigation by the UIF’s investigators, law enforcement agencies at the Fusion Centre including the HAWKS, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC).
Last year, Levy Moremi, and his wife Treasure Moremi, were found guilty of defrauding the UIF by the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
This came after the couple, who are both directors of Denmeng Trading, applied for Covid-19 TERS for 537 workers when they only employed about 29 workers. The money was then transferred and laundered through several entities and personal bank accounts and splurged on items such as a truck, a minibus and a piece of vacant land.
Maruping says the latest convictions have encouraged the UIF to further intensify the work of the following the money project, and to dig even deeper and further.
Maruping said he was pleased with the work the team was doing and had personal experience of how involved it is.
“We will not rest until we are able to fully account to workers on how their UIF contributions were spent during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anyone who consciously helped themselves to monies that were meant for distressed workers during the devastating lockdowns when employees lost their income, will have their day in court and will answer for their crimes. They will not escape prosecution,” said Maruping.
The UIF enlisted the services of more than 360 auditors with accounting, and forensic investigation expertise to examine financial records, verify the authenticity of claims and confirm if the correct amounts of money was paid over to workers, at the right time at companies who benefited from Covid 19 TERS.
To date, 11 people have been convicted and sentenced to direct imprisonment or suspended sentences for Covid-19 TERS related crimes. The most prominent Covid-19 TERS case was that of Bookkeeper, Lindelani Gumede, who was sentenced last year to 135 years in prison for 32 counts of fraud.
Cape Times