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The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria issued an order in favor of the NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) to freeze R111 million worth of bank accounts connected to Hammanskraal businessman Thabo Abel Simbini and his business, Impossible Services (Pty) Ltd.
Simbini briefly appeared in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court on bribery allegations in connection with the Department of Employment and Labor’s COVID-19 FIU Temporary Assistance Program (Ters), the NPA said in a statement.
“In October 2020, Impossible Services claimed to have laid off 6,647 employees from their jobs. However, the company had only one employee, Simbini, prior to the statements made to the FIU. Based on these anomalies, it appears that Impossible Services had no other employees than Simbini, who is a director.
“Impossible Services received R111 003 088.73 on his bank account based on the fraudulent claim.
“Subsequent investigations revealed that the employees were not employees of Impossible Services and that the company was fraudulently using people’s identity documents to claim the normal benefit of UIF and Ters without their knowledge,” the statement said.
“Therefore, the 111 million rand was paid fraudulently to the company and Simbini and the company possibly committed fraud, theft and / or money laundering.
“On November 13, 2020, the Financial Intelligence Center (FIC) issued directives in terms of the Financial Intelligence Center Law for the bank to“ freeze ”the accounts or not proceed with any transaction in the accounts involved.
“On Friday, November 13, Simbini was arrested by members of the Directorate of Investigation of Priority Crimes (DPCI), popularly known as the Hawks, during an undercover operation in which the defendant was caught red-handed bribing an official from the Department of Employment and Work.
“The Hawks investigation into Simbini’s claims continues. Hawks and the NPA are part of the Fusion Center which comprises all law enforcement agencies. The Fusion Center is a platform for law enforcement collaboration to prevent, detect early intelligence-led investigations, process, and recover assets related to corruption or related activities with regard to Covid-19 relief to counter economic and social impact harmful of the pandemic. “The statement said.
“The quick response of law enforcement agencies under the Fusion Center regarding these Covid 19 relief cases is commendable. The AFU will continue to act swiftly to ensure that we profit from this corruption. This is money intended for people who have been hit hard by the pandemic, but there are unscrupulous people who take advantage of them, ”said AFU Director Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba.
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