‘Government has been defrauded of more than R80 billion’
Justice Minister, Michael Masutha, Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi and Police Minister, Bheki Cele say the government is being defrauded of billions of rands allegedly with the assistance of the State Attorney’s office.
An investigation carried out by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is underway. The wide-ranging investigation follows a proclamation by President Cyril Ramaphosa last month.
SIU head, Advocate Andy Mothibi says they’ll cover all nine provinces. Motsoaledi says an amount of R100 million has allegedly already been claimed and Masutha says the investigation will also probe fraudulent claims as well as payments that stretch more than 12 years back.
According to the Ministers, to date, the government has been defrauded of more than R80 billion. Mothibi says they have assembled to conduct investigations in all state attorneys’ offices.
Motsoaledi says more than R56 billion fraudulent claims have been lodged with his department that will also have to be investigated.
Motsoaledi indicated that medical practitioners are also involved in this