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The Hawks raided 15 Durban homes in a R700m corruption investigation.
Gallo Images / Sowetan / Tiro Ramatlhatse
- The Hawks raided 15 properties in an ongoing R700m corruption investigation at the eThekwini Township Water and Sanitation Unit.
- Apparently the R700m was charged for services that were never carried out.
- No arrests were made.
The Hawks raided 15 Durban homes of eThekwini Township Water and Sanitation Unit officials and service providers on Tuesday as part of an ongoing investigation into fraud, corruption and money laundering.
According to Hawks spokesman Brig. Hangwani Mulaudzi, the Hawks’ National Clean Audit Task Force discovered in June that 200 million rand had allegedly been diverted from the municipality.
Mulaudzi said it has now been determined that another R500 million has allegedly been embezzled from the department.
“It is alleged that the R700 million are proceeds of crime derived from service providers who were allegedly providing services for the water and sanitation unit and claimed to have provided those services while they were not being carried out. False statements were allegedly made to the municipality and in some cases, authorized signatures were not supported on the invoices as per the approval requirement, “Mulaudzi said.
Despite the alleged falsification of documents, the payments were approved and significant sums of money were allegedly channeled to officials for their own benefit.
During the operation, which also included the Hawks Digital Forensic Laboratory, the Priority Crime Specialized Investigation officers, the SAPS Crime Scene Management and the National Intervention Unit, various elements, including a number of laptops, computers desktops, hard drives, cell phones, bank cards from different banks, company data, invoices and company registration documents were seized for analysis.
No arrests have been made.
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