Pensioner, 62, nabbed by Hawks in R4.6m UIF relief pay fraud case

A man was arrested after he failed to disclose that he had become an instant millionaire. Picture: IANS

A man was arrested after he failed to disclose that he had become an instant millionaire. Picture: IANS

Published Sep 1, 2020

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A pensioner from Hammanskraal has been arrested in connection with fraud and theft of UIF Covid-19 relief pay cash. The suspect, 62, was arrested on Sunday by the Hawks.

They said he was arrested after he failed to disclose that he had become an instant millionaire. The money was meant to remunerate employees of a certain company, which will be disclosed in court papers.

According to the Hawks, the suspect worked for the same company and allegedly used the same reference number from the previous employer to apply for his UIF payout.

It was found by the company that the money was actually paid, but was redirected to the suspect’s account.

A case was opened and almost R4.6million has already been recovered.

“He allegedly used almost R100 000 on himself,” the Hawks said.

The National Head of the Hawks, Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya, has hailed the arrest as another breakthrough by the team.

Lebeya said pensioners are supposed to be role models for their children and grandchildren. “Without suggesting the guilt of the suspect, behaviour of this manner suggests a bad role model.”

In a separate case, two police officers formed part of a trio who were arrested last week in Durban for alleged fraud and money laundering of R692 000, also linked to the same relief scheme.

“National Adhesive applied for relief funds for their employees. However, it emerged that the company’s banking details were fraudulently changed and the R692000 was redirected to another bank account.”

It was found that the account belonged to a police officer from the Durban Central Tactical Response Team. He allegedly transferred the money to another officer who is attached to the Durban tracking team and the third suspect.

Pretoria News

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HawksCovid-19