Tribunal guns for Esidimeni NGOs

The Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) special tribunal has issued summonses to 13 non-profit organisations implicated in unjustified enrichment emanating from the Life Esidimeni scandal.

The summonses were issued on Monday, said tribunal spokesperson Selby Makgotho yesterday.

Makgotho said the organisations allegedly submitted fraudulent invoices and ended up being overpaid. The tribunal was expected to recover R5.5 million from the organisations through civil litigation, Makgotho said.

On Monday, the new tribunal announced that it had received its first batch of cases to start with civil proceedings against government departments and state organs in an effort to recover the billions looted from the state.

The tribunal was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa in February, after an announcement to that effect in his State of the Nation address.

In September, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola gazetted the regulations for the SIU’s special tribunal.

The value of cases ready for adjudication and recovery stands at R14.7 billion.

Makgotho said the tribunal also had a mandate to recover public funds siphoned from the fiscus through fraud and illicit money flows.

He said that the president of the tribunal, Judge Gidfonia Mlindelwa Makhanya, had met with its members and “expressed the need to move with the required speed on the work, especially because it has only three years in which to operate and finalise its work”.

– News24 Wire