The Eastern Cape commercial crimes unit is set to pounce on hundreds of people — including lawyers, doctors and traffic officials — in the next few days for allegedly defrauding the Road Accident Fund (RAF).
Five prosecutors have been assigned to deal exclusively with these cases.
In the biggest-yet swoop on RAF fraud in the Eastern Cape, the police this week detained 49 people for operating a fraudulent scheme to siphon millions of rands from the fund.
The arrest came days after the Scorpions arrested two East Rand lawyers for allegedly defrauding the fund of R20-million. Twins Francois and Andre Malan appeared in the Alberton Magistrate’s Court and were released on a combined bail of R350 000.
Spokesperson for the Eastern Cape commercial crimes unit Alfred Khana said the 49 already under arrest in the province were part of a syndicate with national links that operated mainly in Port Elizabeth. They appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. The group was arrested after a year-long probe by the unit.
Khana said his unit investigated between 250 and 300 fraudulent claims submitted to the RAF between May and December last year. The claims cost the RAF more than R4,5-million.
The 49 people arrested this week are suspected of submitting about 74 false or inflated RAF claims amounting to more than R1-million. Khana said they had worked with doctors, lawyers and emergency services personnel in submitting the false claims.
Their modus operandi was to obtain information about accidents from the police or the traffic department, said Khana.
”They would then add people who were unrelated to the accident and these people would then go to lawyers and submit claims stating they were injured as a result of an accident.
”They would also consult a doctor to obtain medical report to substantiate their ‘injuries’. The lawyers would then lodge a claim with the RAF, who would do a merit assessment and make payment,” he said.
Most of the fraudulent claims came from Port Elizabeth. In one incident, Khana said more than 23 people submitted claims amounting to R570 000 for an accident involving a bus, though no injuries were recorded at the time of the accident.