The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has raised concerns over the safety of one of its employees. This comes after an employee tasked with auditing companies that benefited from the Covid-19 TERS Relief Scheme received threats on his life.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund is extremely concerned about a death threat that was made to a staff member who is auditing companies that benefited from the Covid-19 TERS Relief Scheme.
Teboho Maruping, the commissioner of the UIF, stated that earlier this week, "a law-enforcement agency" informed the fund that an employer had issued an anonymous threat to kill the UIF official if the audit went ahead.
Maruping further stated that the audits of employers were a component of the UIF's "follow the money" effort, which aimed to guarantee that workers received the correct payments at the appropriate times and that companies did not misuse funds.
"The fund will not be deterred from auditing all employers who benefited from the R62bn paid to date through Covid-19 TERS,” said Maruping.
Maruping continued by saying that the UIF views the threat as extremely severe. They are also deeply alarmed and troubled by this threat made against a public servant who is devoted to preventing the misuse of tax-payer money.
The UIF commissioner noted that since Covid-19 TERS' establishment, the fund had watched with "with disappointment" how some companies received funds but neglected to distribute them to their employees.
In some instances, we learnt with disgust that employers were paying over only part of the monies and not the full amounts and that companies were using funds for other than the intended purposes.
According to Maruping, ten people have been found guilty of fraud, theft, and money laundering in connection with the Covid-19 TERS and have received direct prison sentences or suspended sentences.
The most notable case, according to the commissioner, is the Covid-19 TERS fraud, for which bookkeeper Lindelani Gumede received a 20-year direct prison sentence.
For Covid-19 TERS-related offences, another 30 people have also been detained, and the fund expects further arrests as phase 2 of the "follow the money" project, which began in July 2022, moves forward.
