SIU investigating misuse of over R190 billion by govt departments

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) says it is probing the misuse of more than R190 billion in taxpayers’ money from various government departments and entities including state-owned entities.

The SIU told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) in Parliament that some of the allegations of maladministration and corruption include investigations into a conflict of interest by senior government officials.

Chief National Investigator at SIU, Leonard Lekgetho, says the scale of the rot in the flouting of regulations includes even the National Treasury among others.

“The amount that we are currently looking at in terms of the national departments is R183 billion. And when you look at the provincial matters including the provincial SOEs, the matters currently under investigation are R9.1 billion. And in terms of local government, all the matters that are currently under investigation it is R1.7 billion. Then in total, we are currently investigating matters to the value of R194 billion.”

The SIU is also probing the National Treasury for an alleged contractual agreement with a service provider to the tune of over R800 million.

The SIU told members of Scopa that there is a litany of serious allegations levelled against public officials in all three spheres of government.

Lekgetho says the list of allegations relating to transgressions in violation of the Public Finance Management Act is increasing.

“Those are matters are currently under investigation. So those are three categories that part two is trying to depict the matters. The first one is the one related to National Treasury, where we investigate one contract. And the matter is currently under support, and the value of that matter is R882 million. The second one is the National Department of Transport, Provincial Departments of Transport, local authority and entities that perform functions in terms of the National Road Traffic Act.”