Special Investigating Unit (SIU) head adv Andy Mothibi says the unit is prioritising investigations into R14.3bn worth of alleged Covid-19-related procurement corruption –because it endangered the lives of South Africans.
He made the revelation before parliament’s public finance watchdog, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), on Wednesday.
“Without really diminishing the other investigations that we do, we prioritised this investigation around PPE because this is a first where we see the scale of corruption in any particular investigation, and for obvious reasons, including the importance of PPE to the lives of South Africans,” he said.
These investigations come at a hefty price for taxpayers – R341m.
Mothibi and his team presented a 100-slide PowerPoint presentation to Scopa, which MPs hailed as comprehensive, detailed and informative.
The unit said it was yet to start with the 1,832 cases of alleged corruption involving personal protective equipment worth R878m. It is now investigating 2,695 cases of contracts worth R7.6bn.
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Among the ongoing cases was the multimillion-rand contract with Digital Vibes, a company linked to health minister Zweli Mkhize. The unit said the investigation had reached a “critical” stage and was expected to be complete by month end.
A breakdown of the ongoing cases per province showed Gauteng accounted for the majority of the cases, with 1,832 contracts worth R5.6bn being investigated.
These investigations come at a hefty price for taxpayers – R341m.
Mothibi revealed that the unit that had been investigating the cases since last year had finalised 1,071 contracts that were awarded to 853 service providers for R5.7bn.
The unit said it faced several limitations in its investigations, the biggest among these being witnesses’ fear of victimisation.
“It is important that I single out these ones simply because we depend on these witnesses to bring evidence forward,” he said.
He also made reference to the unavailability of officials – who either had to quarantine, work from home or did not want to have in-person interviews – as a negative factor. He also decried the destruction of evidence, including documentation, cellphones and computers.
The unit said there were no attempts in negotiations with suppliers to bring prices within the thresholds suggested by Treasury. That resulted in overpayment for goods.
It also noted there appeared “to be no verification protocols on supplier registration details”. This had resulted in several suppliers claiming VAT when they were not registered with Sars as VAT vendors.
Suppliers were also said to have used front companies to obtain multiple contracts, while some companies were awarded BBBEE points as level 1 contributors when they, in fact, did not qualify.
Political pressure was said to have played a role in the procurement of PPE, according to Mothibi.
Of all the investigations, the unit said it had referred cases to the tune of R614m to the special tribunal to set the contracts aside and recover losses.
The unit had, in addition to these frozen accounts, blocked pensions and made recommendation for disciplinary action against implicated officials.
However, Mothibi admitted that some institutions, particularly in the Eastern Cape, had been hesitant to take action.
“It really concerns us that these matters should be given the attention as speedily as we would expect,” he said.
Earlier this year, the SIU set itself a deadline of August 2021 to complete all its investigations related to Covid-19. Mothibi said he was confident it would be able to meet the deadline.
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