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By Chris Ndaliso 
10h ago
Durban – The homes of 15 officials from eThekwini’s Water and Sanitation Unit and the unit’s service providers were raided on Tuesday as part of an investigation into bid fraud and corruption amounting to some R700 million.
Officials from the National Prosecutor’s Office, the Asset Confiscation Unit, the Digital Forensic Services, the Crime Scene Management, the National Intervention Unit and the Financial Intelligence Center participated in the raids, during which six vehicles, including a Porsche Cayenne GTS, a Range Rover and a BMW: Cell phones, bank cards, laptops, hard drives and desktop computers were seized.
A source said the vehicles were found on the property of a service provider on Kenyon Howden Road in Montclair.
“Junior staff are living the life of billionaires and this has been going on for over 10 years with no action being taken to stop the rot. All these actors in this operation have been used to unravel the seriousness of the crimes committed by a very well orchestrated criminal company that works within the Water and Sanitation Unit of the eThekwini Municipality ”, said the source.
“The R700 million is above the raid that was reported in July to recover around R200 million. In some cases, no work was done and false statements were made on recovered invoices. In others, there were no signatures authorized under the approval requirement, and payments were approved without checks or balances.
“There are people who bought properties using this money illegally, and rented them, and that amounts to money laundering.”
In July, the Daily News reported that the Asset Forfeiture Unit and Falcons pounced on 11 homes belonging to various officials from the same unit, believed to be involved in corruption worth an estimated 200 million rand.
Hawks spokesman Brig. Hangwani Mulaudzi said yesterday’s raids were carried out on 15 of 18 properties in Woodlands, Morningside, Chatsworth, Merebank and Montclair.
“The Clean Audit National Task Force discovered in June 2020 that R200 million were allegedly diverted from the municipality, and it has now been determined that another R500 million have allegedly been embezzled from the department. The R700 million is alleged to be the proceeds of crime derived from service providers who were supposed to provide services for the water and sanitation unit and claimed to have provided such services while they were not carried out. It is alleged that false statements were made to the municipality and, in some cases, authorized signatures were not endorsed on the invoices according to the approval requirement, ”he said.
Mulaudzi said that despite the alleged falsification of documents, the payments were approved and significant amounts were channeled to officials for their benefit.
“During the operation, several items were seized for analysis, including laptops, desktops, hard drives, cell phones, bank cards, company data, invoices and company registration documents. No arrests have been made so far, as investigations continue. “
Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said: “In the case of any wrongdoing, no one should impede the work of our law enforcement agencies.”
Corruption Watch said a significant collaborative effort was needed to achieve a common criminal goal.
“For these people to be successful, there would have to be a systemic weakening of the processes designed to protect the city against corruption. Only then can the resources be exploited to the point where R700 million is lost, ”said senior writer Valencia Talane.
He said it was encouraging to witness law enforcement agencies being able to act on the wrongdoing.
“Justice will be fully effective when the money allegedly looted is recovered and those responsible face the consequences. There is a need for regular monitoring and review of the procurement processes and the legislative resources that protect them to help prevent a recurrence of corruption. The same happens with the training of personnel who work in the shopping space, ”he said.
Daily News
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