20101010
BuaNews

Pretoria — More than 60 officials in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development were found guilty of fraud and corruption amounting to R30 million, leading to 21 dismissals in the past year.

Briefing the media on the department's annual report, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe revealed on Sunday that the officials were nabbed following a Public Service Commission report into the financial misconduct reported by the department during the 2009/2010 financial year.

The department had so far recovered close to R500 000 of the missing money, he said.

Several other officials were facing arrest over their involvement in syndicates that had defrauded the department more than R80 million from the Guardian fund and maintenance account.

The officials were fingered following an investigation carried out by the special investigations unit, the Hawks where fraudulently obtained identity documents were used to apply or claim monies from funds managed by the department.

While Radebe on Sunday could not divulge the number of officials involved in the scheme or where they were located, he warned that arrests were expected soon.

"They will be identified as we have already started doing so through our investigations. They will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," he said.

The minister said while the Auditor General's report indicates a spending rate of 98 percent of the department's R7.5 billion budgets, concerns relating to financial mismanagement could not be ignored or left unattended.

"We have studied the departmental operations and the weaknesses which were highlighted in the Auditor General's report which resulted in perennial qualified reports and we have taken steps to combat these challenges".

The department was developing a robust turnaround strategy and plan to correct the weaknesses which will be announced in Parliament soon.

Radebe said the strategy will mainly focus on ensuring that senior managers in his department account for activities of those who report to them in order to effectively monitor the work done by the nearly 18000 staff members countrywide.

The AG's report had been useful in that it was able to supplement the department's own report as an added tool used for assessment toward a clean audit, he added.