Durban - In a statement the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) said that they had deployed more than 360 forensic auditors who have been deployed by the UIF to start knocking on the doors of employers who benefited from the Covid-19 Temporary Employee/Employer Relief Scheme (TERS) Relief Scheme to examine their 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 said that they have enlisted the help of services of seven companies with auditing, accounting, and forensic investigation expertise to implement phase two of its
“follow the money” project, which got under way in July 2022. “The seven companies are The Accounting Village (Pty) Ltd; NKS Chartered Accountants; Inqaba Kadiya Consulting (Pty) Ltd; Leolo and Partners Chartered Accountants; Morobi Chartered Accountants; Ndemex Business Solution; and Ligwa Advisory Services.”
UIF added that the objectives of the “follow the money” project entail verifying that Covid-19 TERS funds reached the intended beneficiaries at the right time.
“It also includes that funds were not abused or misused by the employers, that claims were validly lodged, that employees for whom claims were made are actually employed by companies). We urge employers to grant auditors access to their premises and to proactively prepare for the audits by having at least three months’ pre-lockdown payroll reports, bank statements proving that Covid-TERS funds were paid over to employees, employee salary advice related to the payments, as well as salary reconciliations readily available for the auditors.”
UIF Commissioner, Teboho Maruping, said that employers who benefited from Covid-19 TERS should get their ducks in a row to ensure compliance with the UIF internal auditors and enlisted audit companies.
“Over the past few months, we have witnessed how some employers were being convicted and jailed for Covid-19 TERS fraud. It is quite disturbing that 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.”
Maruping added that allegations have also come to light that some employers were only paying part of the money to workers and not the full amounts and that companies were using the money for other purposes.
“Of great concern to the UIF is a recent death threat that was made against one of our officials who is at the forefront of conducting the audits. We condemn this conduct and will not allow it to deter us from executing this important work.”
Maruping said that from the start of Covid-19 TERS, the UIF was cognisant of the possible risks of fraud and hence it proactively established the follow the money.
“Our intention, as the UIF, was always to support companies, workers, and our economy during the lockdown, but there was always a plan to conduct a comprehensive audit of all the payments in order to substantively account for every rand and cent that was paid out of the fund. Therefore, I am urging all companies to extend the forensic auditors their full co-operation and to supply the required information within the specified time frames. Failure to comply will lead to legal action.”
Maruping added that in Phase 1 of the “follow the money project” UIF audited R14.1 billion rands.
“R12.8 billion was audited and deemed as accurate payments; R918 million was recovered to the UIF; and regretfully, R387 million was suspected to be fraudulent payments and were referred for further investigation. To date, the fund has recovered R3.4 billion for which 10 people have been sentenced. Another 46 persons who are suspected of committing Covid-19 TERS-related offences have been arrested and are currently facing prosecution.”