A preliminary investigation conducted into the illegal transfer of state land to private individuals in Joburg has revealed the involvement of a former Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) employee.
This is according to JPC spokesperson Lucky Sindane who said the probe, which was conducted internally, revealed that the former staffer was working as a consultant to an alleged syndicate involved in the illegal transfer of 16 pieces of land in different parts of Johannesburg.
Sindane said the investigation is continuing to trace whether their employees are leaking information about city-owned assets to the alleged syndicate involved. A source told Sowetan that the transfers were an inside job with some of the entity’s employees receiving kickbacks of at least R250,000 per month from them (transfers). The source further alleged that investigations were instituted after a whistleblower alerted JPC to the matter, rather than the Group Forensic and Investigation Services (GFIS), as the JPC has claimed.
The source claimed the system is unreliable and flawed.
The internal staff of these entities know where the flaws are; wouldn’t they be aware of the loopholes and carry on with the land selling, said the source.
In response to these allegations, Sindane said it was in fact their asset management that saw the suspicious transfers.
“The transfers were then reported to the JPC board and GFIS during 2023. No whistleblower approached our team.
“If there are any allegations against the JPC officials soliciting bribes, this must be reported to JPC, GFIS, and the SAPS for an investigation. I believe that the SAPS will be approaching both the deeds office in Pretoria and Johannesburg to investigate these illegal transfers,” he said.
Gauteng police confirmed they are investigating 16 cases of fraud reported to them by the entity. Meanwhile, the deeds office, via its spokesperson Linda Page, said they had not been approached yet about the matter.
Since 2010, a criminal case related to a similar illegal transfer of 23 city-owned properties has been playing out in the courtroom.
According to Sindane, these properties were transferred to various companies using people in Sars, the Deeds Office, and the municipality back in 2010.
Sowetan
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