The Department of Employment and Labour has strongly welcomed the forfeiture order granted by the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria against Thabo Abel Simbini, who swindled UIF of R111 million in Covid–19 TERS payments.
The money will be paid into the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
The order was successfully obtained yesterday 7 December 2021 by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) following a successful preservation order obtained from the same court in November last year in terms of the provisions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. The preservation order related to property believed to be the proceeds of fraud, theft and money laundering.
Last year, Simbini, through his company, Impossible Services (Pty) Ltd, applied for the UIF’s Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Covid-19 TERS) on behalf of over 6000 workers. An amount of R111 million was subsequently disbursed to Simbini who transferred the funds to several accounts.
After joint efforts by the UIF’s investigators, law enforcement agencies at the Fusion Centre such as the HAWKS, NPA and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), Simbini’s bank accounts were frozen and he was arrested and charged. He is also facing a charge of corruption after he attempted to bribe a UIF official to release the ill-gotten monies, but was arrested during a sting operation.
Thobile Lamati, the Department’s director general welcomed the news and expressed appreciation to the law enforcement agencies who worked tirelessly to ensure that the R111 million is paid back to the UIF’s coffers.
“The Department is much obliged for the outstanding work of all our law enforcement agencies responsible for obtaining the forfeiture order and ensuring the hard-earned monies of workers are returned to us. We are further putting on notice to those who have gain illegally from the monies that we were disbursing to help workers through the hard lockdown that their day is coming. They will not escape,” he said.
For more information, contact:
Musa Zondi
Acting Departmental Spokesperson
067 426 4190 or musa.zondi@labour.gov.za
