Hawks: Fusion Centre has probed 550 cases of fraud, corruption
Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya says the centre that was set up to deal with the misappropriation of Covid relief funds has so far investigated over 550 cases of fraud, maladministration, tax evasion and corruption.
"One-hundred-and-sixty-eight accused persons were secured before the various courts, 51 persons and 43 entities were convicted for various crimes, 48 cases are still pending."
The Fusion Centre was established in 2020.
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It involves other agencies like the NPA, the Special Investigating Unit, SARS, as well as the as National Treasury.
Lebeya says complex criminal syndicates are involved in some of the cases.
"The first case involved an accountant who defrauded the TERS scheme of over R11 million by claiming relief funds on behalf of a number of companies without their knowledge."
"The investigators uncovered a network of 17 persons, 26 entities, 53 banking accounts and 983 transactions were involved in the flow of the financial proceeds from the accountant."
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