Pretoria – Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa yesterday announced that a comprehensive forensic investigation will be conducted within the South African Police Service (SAPS) Service Termination environment.
The move follows the arrest of four suspects in relation to alleged service payout fraud, corruption. The four are Eunice Sifunda, Daphney Mdluli, Nomcebo Sono and Agnes Nkuna and all appeared in court last week. Nkuna is an employee of the SAPS, attached to the Service Termination section.
The section is responsible for processing and payment of service termination benefits of former employees of the SAPS, those employed under the SAPS Act as well as the Public Service Act.
It has a mandate to ensure that such payments are processed timeously, efficiently and in most instances, deals directly with the widows and widowers of the former employees. It is therefore one of the essential sections within the SAPS.
Police Ministry spokesperson Zweli Mnisi said the arrests came after a son of a late Warrant Officer opened a case of fraud in Pretoria last month. The case was then handed over to the Hawks for investigation.
The suspects are accused of amongst others of organizing clients (false dependents or beneficiaries) and completing false documents such as a proof of relationship. This would lead to legitimate beneficiaries not receiving monies due to them and the sums being fraudulently deposited to the suspects’ accounts, Mnisi said.
Mthethwa was quoted as saying it would appear the arrest of the suspects was a "tip of an iceberg".
"It seems there is a serious syndicate that may involve more SAPS employees and other external people. What is more perturbing is the fact that one of the suspects is our own employee, someone who is entrusted with ensuring that the families of the deceased receive what is rightfully due to them".
“We will ensure that we get to the bottom of this rot and anyone who may be involved must face the full might of the law,” said Mthethwa.
He vowed that the SAPS would not allow a few individuals to tarnish the department’s name.
“We cannot have criminals disguised as employees swindling deserving beneficiaries. For this reason I have instructed the police management to institute a comprehensive forensic investigation within the environment of service terminations".
When Nkuna was arrested, she was on vacation leave and therefore her vacation leave has been converted to leave without pay for the period that she is in custody. While the criminal proceedings were underway, the employee was served with intended suspension on 19 December.
The Hawks have said more charges may be added later as the investigation progresses. – SAnews.gov.za
