The director-general of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Menzi Simelane, has denied that top officials had doctored the department’s books to hide R840-million they had failed to spend or that they had misled Parliament about their financial affairs.
The Sunday Times reported that it had found that the officials, including Simelane, conspired to conceal the underspending by making a series of irregular changes to the department’s books on February 6, just 24 hours before presenting them to a parliamentary committee.
The officials apparently risked losing out on performance bonuses because of the spending failure.
Simelane told the paper that excess funds were re-prioritised and channelled to various projects that the department had been unable to fund due to lack of money.
He denied that his suggestion to his deputies to direct funds to new projects was reckless.
He said the money had been transferred into projects to provide the courts with digital equipment and for security services. – Sapa