A confidential report on the abuse of MPs’ travel vouchers currently being considered by a special parliamentary task team lends new weight to calls for legal action against Bathong Travel, the only agency implicated in the scandal which has not yet faced liquidation or criminal charges.
And it calls into question the exoneration of MP Danny Oliphant, who had previously been cleared, by Parliament’s ethics committee on charges that he benefited from travel fraud through his interest in the short-lived agency Eyebathu.
But nearly two years of forensic work by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) into the abuse of members travel privileges have yielded little other firm information about who benefited from R17-million worth of voucher fraud involving seven travel agencies and the names of 313 MPs.
The report, which the Mail & Guardian has seen, sketches a system that is vulnerable to abuse, and recommends several new avenues of investigation and legal action.
Bathong Travel, which is still operating near Parliament, has thus far managed to avoid liquidation and criminal prosecution, despite the arrest of one of its directors, Mpho Lebelo, over her role at another agency.
According to the report, “Bathong has possibly fraudulently invoiced Parliament by R3 341 767”, and legal action should be considered.
About 70 MPs were clients of Bathong, and there have been persistent rumours — as well as public claims by opposition parties — that the presiding officers are reluctant to act against the firm because information about senior African National Congress members, including Cabinet ministers, will emerge in the process.
“With all of the other travel companies, the real pay dirt emerged from the liquidation inquiries and interrogations. Bathong Travel has not faced such an inquiry and all the MPs alleged to have defrauded Parliament through this agency seem set to get off scott-free. Surely this is wrong,” Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said in a statement last month.
But sources in Parliament insist progress is being made in preparations to apply for the liquidation of Bathong, and with criminal investigation.
Oliphant was cleared in November 2003 by Parliament’s ethics committee of allegations that he had benefited through Eyabathu travel, a firm he set up with a former employee of ITC — the now-liquidated agency whose activities initially sparked the investigation.
According to the report, Eyabathu presented Parliament with a statement based on possible falsified air tickets totalling R158 160.
“Danny Olifant handed in the statement for March 2004, and told [parliamentary finance officials] that [Desiree] Henry, owner of Eyabathu, would visit to explain that this was a new company and to discuss payment terms. Parliament should consider possible legal action regarding the statement presented for payment containing possible falsified documents.”
Oliphant is among the MPs charged by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) with involvement in the scam. According to a parliamentary fact sheet, Eyabathu is being investigated to determine who was behind it. He had not responded to a request for comment by the time the M&G went to press.
A special task team of MPs, headed by the DA’s Sandra Botha, is considering the report, along with a memo from Vusi Pikoli, the head of the NPA, with a view to recommending improvements in parliamentary procedure.
But the team will not be able to examine the flow of cash and benefits between MPs and travel agents.
The PWC report says there was not enough “accounting information” available in the documents to determine whether members were party to fraud, what the extent of the fraud was, or whether they received other “undue benefits” from travel agents.
“We relied on oral evidence which was contradictory in some cases and could not be tested against documentary evidence,” it adds. As a result it was impossible to say “who has benefited from the possible misuse of members travel warrants and consequently who is liable for these debts”.
According to sources familiar with its work, the committee is unlikely to recommend tough action against individuals — largely because its scope is limited to studying the PWC report and making recommendations to the joint rules committee.
“The terms of reference are just too narrow, and the report itself it too limited,” one person said. “I’m not saying it will definitely be a whitewash, but there is some cause for concern. It was very astute to appoint Sandra Botha — she’s an opposition MP, but she is also anxious to stay on side with the speaker.” The view was reiterated by several members of different opposition parties.
Botha had not responded to requests for comment at press time.
The primary focus of the report is on procedural failures in Parliament. The entire system, which processed about 30 000 air tickets a year, was overseen by a single employee, it points out. And her work was never fully checked by her superiors.
This person — whose name is known to the M&G — received a free air ticket to London and a night in a Gordon’s Bay Hotel from one of the implicated travel agents. Following disciplinary proceedings she was given a final written warning that has since expired, and she is currently “medically boarded”.
Numerous loopholes in the system were — and remain — easily exploited. The report recommends that it be “completely re-engineered”.