Fraudulent Covid TERS cases being finalised - UIF
The Unemployment Insurance Fund says 16 of the 40 fraudulent claims made by employers during the Covid-19 pandemic have been finalised.
The UIF Commission's Smiso Nkosi says false claims worth over R1.4 billion were made from the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme.
TERS was introduced during the lockdown to provide financial relief for employees who couldn't work.
Nkosi explained some of the fraud cases they uncovered across various sectors.
"Some employers apply with bogus companies that were redundant or had never traded.
“Some go to vulnerable communities promising them jobs and taking their ID numbers, while they know they'll be using their IDs to apply fraudulently for Covid TERS.
“Some would overstate how many employees they have. So, it is a company that works but they, for instance, only have 10 employees. When the apply to us, they've increased the number to 500 employees."
He says the fraud convictions vary depending on the amount of money claimed.
"The highest conviction we've had out of these 16 finalised cases is 20 years direct imprisonment.
“Once we take you to court, if you took Covid TERS money to buy vehicles or buildings, we work with the Asset Forfeiture Unit to sell those items and we're then able to get the money back. We are still in that process."
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