The Covid-19 Temporary Employee/Employer Relief Scheme (TERS) was established as the government’s response to assisting employees who lost income due to the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown levels that limited economic activity.
More than 360 forensic auditors from seven auditing companies have been deployed by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and they have already started knocking on the doors of employers who benefited from the Covid-19 TERS Relief Scheme.
These visits form part of the Second Phase of the follow-the-Money Project, which seeks to examine employer financial records, verify the authenticity of their claims and confirm if the correct amounts of money were paid over to workers, at the right time.
UIF Commissioner, Teboho Maruping, said allegations of some employers who were only paying part of the money to workers and not the full amounts and that companies were using the money for other purposes have come to light.
In a statement, Maruping has confirmed:
Some employers have been convicted and jailed for their involvement in the Covid-19 TERS fraud.
According to UIF spokesperson Trevor Hattingh, the UIF is still receiving complaints about companies who have allegedly received Covid-19 TERS monies but who failed to pay these over to their workers.
A UIF official who is at the forefront of conducting audits also received death threats and the UIF strongly condemned this conduct.
In the first phase of the “follow the money” project R387 million was suspected to be fraudulent payments and were referred for further investigation.
Currently, the Fund has recovered R3,4 billion and ten people have been sentenced for this criminal act.
An additional 46 persons who are suspected of committing Covid-19 TERS-related offenses have also been arrested and are facing prosecution. The UIF has welcomed the arrests of TERS fraudsters, as these arrests align to the objectives of its project.
