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Hawks to arrest Covid-19 funds looters next week

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Hawks have disclosed that those involved in the looting of Covid-19 funds will be arrested before Tuesday next week.

This comes after South African Revenue Service head Edward Kieswetter revealed to the parliamentarians that some of the companies were not registered for the contract.


According to him, 17 of the PPE tenders valued R1.2 billion involved politically exposed persons.

Hawks boss, Godfrey Lebeya told MPs on Friday that they were currently investigating 23 dockets related to Covid-19 corruption and the necessary arrests will be carried out.

President Cyril Ramaphosa also appointed an Inter-Ministerial Committee, chaired by Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, to investigate the corruption related to the procurement and supply of PPE.

Lamola told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on PPE tenders that they were co-ordinating the work of law enforcement agencies to ensure it runs smoothly and looters get prosecuted.

However, the MPs indicated that they want those involved in the Covid-19 corruption to be prosecuted on time.

Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the funds were meant to protect the poor people and the healthcare system, but some people took advantage of this and stole it.

“There needs to be successful prosecution as a deterrence to the discourse of financial management. What needs to happen is that the wrongs of the past need to be punished,” said Hlengwa.

He added that “when you rob money for healthcare you put lives at risk,” said Hlengwa.

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