One of the six travel agencies under investigation for defrauding Parliament through its travel-voucher system is suing the National Legislature for outstanding reimbursements.
This is the latest twist in the travel-voucher scam involving R4-million to date. Earlier this month Parliament suspended payments amounting to R2,5-million pending a criminal investigation and an internal forensic audit.
Parliament is opposing the civil summons for ”non-payment for services rendered”, secretary Sindiso Mfenyana said. He maintained there was no evidence yet of MPs’ involvement: ”The evidence is showing the fraud is being committed on the part of the agencies.”
Meanwhile, an employee of Parliament’s finance section has been suspended in connection with the fraud and disciplinary steps are under way.
The travel-voucher rules are set out in Circular L19 dating back to August 2001, months after two MPs were reprimanded for irregular use of such vouchers.
The vouchers are for economy-class air travel between Parliament, MPs’ homes and their constituencies. But MPs may claim 80% of the cost of upgrading to business class when there are no economy seats available. Usually an upgrade to business class is paid for by MPs.
At the start of the year MPs must sign for what is described as ”a chequebook” of travel vouchers at Parliament’s finance department. At the end of the year all unused vouchers must be returned.
MPs must also register their home bases and supply letters from their chief whips confirming their constituencies. Depending on the location of a constituency, an MP qualifies for between 40 and 60 single flight vouchers, plus 10 vouchers for single trips at 20% of cost.
When an MP needs to travel a voucher must be completed and presented to a travel agency in return for a ticket. Agencies present vouchers and copies of the tickets to Parliament’s finance section for reimbursement.
However, MPs often only sign vouchers and their secretaries complete them before they are submitted to a travel agent. It is not unusual for the finance section to receive vouchers featuring several handwritings, even though the rules say an MP must complete the voucher personally.
This is a matter of practicalities, said Mfenyana. ”Our members are very busy. They have support staff and rely on them to process [the vouchers].”
What appears to have happened is that a handful of MPs handed over several blank, but signed, vouchers to travel agents. Some vouchers were altered by travel agents to show different routes from those actually travelled by MPs. Some computerised air tickets were replaced with handwritten ones, with additional routes added, and these were presented to Parliament for higher reimbursement. These agencies must now account to the presiding officers.
Some travel agencies under investigation submitted dummy invoices to Parliament and, in at least one case, Parliament received a claim that should have gone elsewhere, said chief financial officer Harry Charlton.
Discrepancies were picked up from February after the finance section was restructured and new budget software was installed to ensure tighter financial control.
The current probes remain focused on the use of vouchers for air travel. The investigation may be widened if evidence of fraud in other areas is discovered. If this happens it could include the use of travel vouchers for car hire, which is allowed with prior approval if it is cheaper than flying. In such cases supporting documentation like petrol and tollgate receipts must be supplied.