The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng uncovered an incident where a former Gauteng Gambling Board (GGB) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), took out a loan from the Board but instead of paying it back personally, he got an NGO to pay off his loan. Even worse, he got the Board to pay back the NGO from gambling fines paid by illegal operators.
Despite a forensic investigation conducted by SkX Proviti and provided to the Office of the Premier highlighting unlawful actions and money laundering by the former GGB CEO, no disciplinary actions were conducted, and no criminal charges were laid against him.
This information was revealed by the Gauteng MEC for Economic Development, Lebogang Maile, in a written reply to the DA’s questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).
See the reply here.
According to MEC Maile, the findings of the forensic report indicated that disciplinary action must be taken against the CEO for him to answer the following charges; financial misconduct in terms of Section 81 of the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA) and gross misrepresentation, corruption and money laundering as contemplated in Section 4 and 5 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998.
Despite this clear evidence of corruption, gross financial misconduct and using a charity organisation as a front to steal public funds, the CEO was allowed to enter a settlement and walk away, after having been on precautionary suspension.
The settlement amount was not disclosed. According to the MEC it was “well-calculated”. The formal disciplinary hearing “was expected to be lengthy and costly”. Not only did the CEO avoid disciplinary action, no criminal action was taken.
This weak approach to corruption has allowed senior officials and politicians to avoid accountability, which is crippling Gauteng’s provincial departments and entities. In this particular case, the MEC risks being criminally liable in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act for ignoring corruption.
We demand full disclosure of the loan amount and the settlement amount. We demand to know the relationship between this organisation and the former CEO to ascertain whether an NGO had been used as a front, not only to repay loans on his behalf. Further investigation should be conducted to see how other funds paid to this NGO were used. Criminal charges must be opened against the former CEO. The DA will not let this matter be swept under the carpet. If GGB fails to open criminal charges, the DA will. We are taking legal advice in terms of possible charges against MEC Maile for ignoring corruption.
A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would not have allowed the settlement to avoid accountability. We would have implemented the disciplinary action against the former CEO, opened criminal charges, and recovered the stolen money. We would have taken firm action against corruption.