NPA officer in trouble for R800k claims
A senior National Prosecuting Authority official is facing a disciplinary hearing over travel claims totaling R800,000 made in just six months.
Anthony Bean, the administrative head of the NPA in Makhanda (which used to be Grahamstown), chalked up the travel claims over six months in 2017. The figure is substantially more than the total of R462,233 he chalked up in travel claims 2012 and 2016.
Asked for comment on Wednesday Bean said: “I cannot talk to the media at this stage until the disciplinary hearing is concluded. The matter is handled by my attorney and I will give you his contact details after the hearing.”
On Wednesday NPA spokesperson Tshepo Ndwalaza also refused to comment on the charges only saying: “The NPA has decided that Mr Bean is to face a disciplinary hearing and was meant to have appeared early this month but he was reported to have been ill. This is an internal labour process of the NPA. Thank you.”
Bean allegedly claimed a R19,000 subsistence allowance in June 2017 and a further R15,400 in July for attending meetings in East London and Port Elizabeth.
Ndwalaza is on record in earlier records saying Bean’s claims were higher than those of others as there were “no other employees of Mr Bean’s rank charged with the same or similar responsibilities”.
The Eastern Cape NPA division has three standalone offices: Makhanda, Port Elizabeth and Bhisho.
In the 2017 article Ndwalaza said: “There is an additional satellite in East London.”
“Each of the first three offices had a director of administration, all on the same level as Mr Bean. The director of admin in PE left [at the] end of August 2015; Mr Bean assumed responsibility for that office. The admin director of the Bhisho office indicated his intention to leave in January 2017. Mr Bean assumed responsibility for the Bhisho and East London offices from then.”
Bean did not start claiming the allowances in 2015, which is when the NPA says he first assumed responsibility for PE. Records show he was paid R113,104 in travel claims in 2012, R82,904 in 2013 and R68,306 in 2014, as well as R95,698 in 2015 and R102,221 in 2016.