Question NW1397 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
17 May 2022 - NW1397
Madlingozi, Mr BS to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
In light of the 5-year jail sentence handed to a certain person (name and details furnished), for spending monies erroneously deposited into her account, what charges were brought by his department against the incompetent officials who made the deposit and then realised after 76 days that they had deposited R14 million to the specified person’s account by mistake?
Reply:
For the sake of clarity, the accused was sentenced to five (5) years’ imprisonment in terms of the provisions of section 276(1)(i) of the Criminal Procedure Act No. 51 of 1977. Thus, after serving a sixth of the sentence (10 months), she may be placed under correctional supervision. The 5-year term was therefore not accurately reported by the media.
The Department of Education and INTELLIMALI commissioned two (2) forensic investigations (Ernst & Young being one of the two companies) and the findings from both companies cleared the officials of any involvement or human error. The final findings were that the deposit was due to a computer glitch or hacking. The police investigations also did not reveal any evidence of wrong-doing on the part of the officials, either from the Department or INTELLIMALI.
In light of the above, no grounds of acting against any official could be found. Any further enquiries in this regard should be addressed to the Department of Higher Education or South African Police Service.
END.