The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced that the Gauteng High Court granted the Asset Forfeiture Unit a preservation order for R3.2 million in Covid-19 Relief Funds that was possibly fraudulently or mistakenly paid into an employee’s account.
The NPA says that a labour broking company, CSG Resourcing, applied for nearly R 5.7 million in Covid-19 relief funds in respect of the employees across various companies that make up their clientele. While the money was meant to be deposited in a CSG Resourcing account, it was instead paid into an account of one of the employees of a CSG Resourcing client.
After CSG Resourcing noticed that the money did not reflect in their account after it was approved, the company reported it and an investigation was launched by the Financial Intelligence Centre.
It was found that the employee had transferred money to his other bank accounts as well as to other people, who further transferred money into other accounts. The NPA says that these actions reflect fraud or theft.
The investigation is still ongoing and a statement from the Unemployment Insurance Fund is pending to explain how the funds were manipulated to be paid into the employee’s account.
