SIU regional executive on bail after fraud charge

A regional executive manager from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) was released on R5,000 bail after he appeared on a fraud charge in the Durban specialised commercial crime court on Thursday.

Sifiso Kunene, 51, who is listed as SIU regional executive manager for Pretoria on the national government website, handed himself over to members of the Hawks' Durban Serious Commercial Crime unit on Wednesday. 

"Kunene handed himself over to Hawks' members from the Durban Serious Commercial Crime unit on Wednesday after he learnt he was sought for fraud. It is alleged that while he was practicing as an attorney in Durban, he made a Road Accident Fund (RAF) claim on behalf of a complainant," said Hawks provincial spokesperson Capt Simphiwe Mhlongo.

Mhlongo said the complainant’s claim was successful and R226,790 was deposited into Kunene’s trust account.

"Kunene allegedly misappropriated the funds and disappeared. An intensive investigation was conducted and a case of fraud was reported at the Durban Central police station."

Kunene made a brief appearance in the Durban specialised commercial crime court on Thursday.

The case was postponed to November 27. 

SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said: "We were made aware of this today (Friday) and as far as we were concerned he (Kunene) was on leave this week. The head of the SIU will engage with him on Monday when he gets back." 

The SIU are SA's most elite investigating unit and were recently tasked by President Cyril Ramaphosa to investigate corruption related to Covid-19 spending, including allegations of impropriety in the awarding of personal protective equipment (PPE) tenders. 

On Wednesday, the SIU told parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) that 6,140 government officials fraudulently benefited to the tune of R41m from the Unemployment Insurance Fund's Covid-19 Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) benefit.

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