Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) told Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday that several legal practitioners signed acknowledgements of debt (AoD) after the unit found more than R340 million in duplicate payments to 102 law firms.
It revealed that around R18 million had been recovered.
“The SIU has approached several legal practitioners with the evidence, and they have opted to cooperate with the SIU investigation in defrayal of their indebtedness by the signing of acknowledgements of debt (AoD). To date, the SIU has signed AoDs to the value of R68 million,” SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said.
“The signing of AoDs does not absolve the legal practitioners from any civil litigation that the SIU may institute or refer for criminal prosecution or being reported to a regulatory body, in this case, the Legal Practice [Council].”
There was one referral to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), he said.
Another 10 possible NPA referrals were identified, as well as five possible referrals to the Legal Practice Council.
The unit is probing allegations of corruption and maladministration at the RAF, focusing on duplicate claim payments, tender irregularities, possibly inflated invoices, and fraudulent claims.
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