A senior Eastern Cape government official and an accomplice were arrested on Wednesday morning for alleged fraud and corruption involving R1,2-million.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the official allegedly received a R50 000 bribe for fraudulently advancing payment of R1,2-million to the accomplice’s company. The firm has since been liquidated.
The transaction cost the labour department in the Eastern Cape R1,2-million, NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said.
He said the government official was arrested in East London and the accomplice in Cape Town.
Around March 2000, the accomplice applied for an advance from the labour department specifically for the disaster-relief training programme.
The criteria for approving applications for the advance was not followed and the official, a provincial director in labour department, allegedly recommended the advance for payment at head office, Nkosi said.
He said the advance was paid on April 13 2000. The R50 000 was paid into an account of the government official’s sister the following day, allegedly at the instruction of the accomplice.
The sister was contracted neither to the company of the accomplice nor to the labour department as a trainer.
Nkosi said the government official then took his sister’s bank card and allegedly withdrew the R50 000 for his own use. — Sapa