<\/p>\n
Pretoria \u2013 Two years since the Fusion Centre was established, almost R659 million had been restored to the State, and another R613m in suspected criminal proceeds had been frozen.<\/p>\n
These figures were released on Monday by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his weekly news letter.<\/p>\n
He said the funds were from 276 fraud and corruption investigations.<\/p>\n
Ramaphosa said the Fusion Centre was initially set up to investigate corruption around Covid-19-related procurement. However, it had now been expanded to include money-laundering, fraud, maladministration, terrorist financing and other serious financial crimes.<\/p>\n
He added that last week, the Hawks outlined some of the progress made since it collaborated with the Fusion Centre. <\/p>\n
\u201cBetween the 2019 and 2022 financial years, 554 suspects were arrested for corruption, of which 142 were convicted.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother vital financial intelligence tool is the lifestyle audits conducted by the SA Revenue Service. Last year, Sars completed 25 lifestyle audits to the value of over R450m to resolve discrepancies between declared income and an individual\u2019s lifestyle,\u201d Ramaphosa said.<\/p>\n
He added that he set up the Investigating Directorate in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to deal with serious corruption and the Special Tribunal to enable the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to more easily recover stolen funds. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Investigating Directorate has enrolled over 20 corruption cases in the last financial year and 65 accused have been charged. These include several \u2018state capture\u2019 and other serious corruption cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past financial year, the Asset Forfeiture Unit obtained freezing orders to the value of R5.4bn relating to corruption offences, with R70m paid into the Criminal Assets Recovery Fund.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Ramaphosa, over the past eight years, the SIU has recovered funds and assets to the value of R2.6bn and set aside contracts to the value of R18bn. <\/p>\n
\u201cCorruption is an extremely complex crime to prosecute. Perpetrators go to extraordinary lengths to cover their tracks. They set up shelf companies to hide dodgy transactions, rapidly moving monies between multiple accounts, misrepresenting income to the tax authorities and, in the case of government employees, using friends and relatives to apply for tenders to mask their involvement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means that the response of the authorities has to be just as sophisticated,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Ramaphosa said measures taken by his administration to restore the capacity and credibility of the institutions involved in the fight against corruption are showing results.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe synchronised work of all the law enforcement agencies is hitting criminals where it hurts most: in their pockets. Public funds that were looted and diverted are being recovered and those responsible for these acts are being prosecuted by our courts.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also announced the appointments to the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council. The Council will bring together stakeholders from across society to oversee the implementation of government\u2019s anti-corruption strategy. <\/p>\n
The new body will advise the government on the critical preventative measures, institutional capabilities and resources needed to prevent a recurrence of state capture and to stamp out fraud and corruption in the country.<\/p>\n
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