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By Mzilikazi Wa Afrika 
42m ago
Johannesburg – There are plans to indict Victor Nkhwashu, the lawyer for the ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule, after his law firm was allegedly paid double the R60,000 advance agreed by the Government Employees Pension Plan (Gems) in 2016.
Nkhwashu’s law firm is also accused of billing the plan for another R292 078.40 “without specific working hours and hourly rate,” according to the report.
The Sunday Independent has good authority that the scheme submitted a report as evidence against Nkhwashu, to the commercial crimes unit a few weeks ago.
The report comes from an investigation conducted by Ligwa Advisory Service, which was hired by the scheme in May 2017 and was presented to it in January 2018.
Director Jabu Mahlangu confirmed yesterday that Ligwa was commissioned to carry out the investigation, but declined to answer specific questions.
“I can confirm that we did such an investigation for the plan, but they are the right people to talk about it,” he said.
The marketing director of the plan, Dr. Phumelela Dhlomo, criticized this newspaper yesterday for trying to “resurrect an old story using leaked and unverified documents.”
“One wonders why he brought this matter up to his newspaper, as it is currently handled by law enforcement agencies, so we are puzzled as to what his source’s intentions are.
“We can confirm that, based on the results of the investigation, a case was opened at the Brooklyn Police Station, with case number CAS 244/04/2018.
“Again, this is a sensitive legal matter, as it is currently handled by law enforcement agencies and we do not want to jeopardize investigations.”
Dhlomo said the scheme has been transparent on this matter.
“All possible means are being explored to get the perpetrators to reserve and recover the money that belongs to the members.”
Ligwa’s report, seen by the Sunday Independent, shows that Victor Nkhwashu Attorneys was one of 23 law firms that responded to an open offer by the scheme that said they want to “hire multiple law firms to serve on their legal panel. , responsible for ensuring that the plan has immediate access to a range of specific specialized legal services.
“By contracting with the aforementioned law firms, the scheme intends to hire at least one small and one medium law firm, in addition to any large law firm that may be contracted with.”
A three-member panel of Gems’s bid evaluation committee recommended Victor Nkhwashu Attorneys, who scored the second-highest, after the highest-scoring law firm was deemed unsuitable to deal with the best interests of the scheme.
The report also revealed that the plan’s Board of Trustees, in a meeting on February 25, 2016, recommended that “contract negotiations be entered into with Victor Nkhwashu Attorneys” and another law firm.
The agreement was signed with the representatives of Victor Nkhwashu Attorneys on March 8, 2016 and on March 10, 2016, in terms of the agreement, the Nkhwashu law firm received a monthly advance of R60,000 excluding VAT.
The report raised some red flags when it was established that Nkhwashu was a business partner in a separate entity owned by a partner of one of the members of the scheme’s bid evaluation committee.
The report indicates that Victor Nkhwashu Attorneys was paid a total of R1.7 million for all work performed between April 2016 and May 2017.
The report indicates that a “significant part of the payments to Victor Nkhwashu Attorneys was approved” by the member of the tender evaluation committee in question and his other colleague “for the services rendered and the payment respectively”.
However, the report adds that the investigators collected two invoices that they consider “duplicate and, therefore, irregular” payments.
“We consider it irregular to approve the previous invoice without any evidence of the hours spent and the hourly rates on which it was based,” the report states.
The report concluded that the plan should take action to recover the double payment of R60,000 from Victor Nkhwashu’s lawyers and report the matter to law enforcement agencies, as the bid evaluation member did not declare their dispute. interest.
Independent Sunday
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