The Pretoria High Court granted a custody order of more than R3.2 million to the Asset Seizure Unit after money was fraudulently or possibly incorrectly deposited into the bank account of one Tshepang Phohole.
Sipho Ngwema, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), said Phohole is a worker of a client of CSG Resourcing, who along with several other workers of the company’s clients received a payment from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
CSG Resourcing, a labor broker with several clients, has submitted UIF claims of more than R5.6 million on behalf of its clients to the fund.
The company had to disburse the money from the Covid-19 emergency relief fund to more than 200 workers from various companies and was approved by the UIF to do so.
The money had to be paid into a specified CSG Resourcing bank account, but was paid into a Phohole bank account, Ngwema said.
“CSG Resourcing inquired because the money did not show in his bank account even though the UIF approved the payment.”
The company reported the incident to police who referred it to the Financial Information Center for urgent intervention.
“The police investigation is ongoing and the relevant law enforcement authorities are awaiting a statement from the UIF on how the Covid-19 emergency relief payment was manipulated to be paid into Phohole’s bank account,” Ngwema said.
The initial investigation indicates that Phohole immediately transferred some of the money to some of his other bank accounts and those of several other people, actions that were considered fraud or theft.
The various accounts were then used to transfer the money to other accounts in an attempt to conceal the origin of the money. Ngwema says it comes down to money laundering.
