Arthur Mafokate is the latest celebrity linked to the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) fraud scheme. Images: Ground Up and Gallo Images.
‘They belong behind bars’: DA on implicated NLC ‘syndicate members’
Arthur Mafokate is the latest celebrity whose property has been frozen by the SIU due to links to to the NLC fraud and corruption syndicate.
Arthur Mafokate is the latest celebrity linked to the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) fraud scheme. Images: Ground Up and Gallo Images.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has welcomed the decision by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to grant the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) an order to freeze three luxury properties, a plot, and a portion of a farm that are owned by former National Lotteries Commission (NLC) syndicate members.
Kwaito legend Arthur Mafokate and a former chairperson of the NLC and his wife are among those whose assets were frozen.
DA WEIGHS ON NLC ‘SYNDICATE’
According to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) R56,3 million was siphoned from five hijacked non-profit organisations in order to fund the acquisition of these properties.
The funds that were looted were meant to assist with social hygiene, home-based care, community development, a museum and a library.
The SIU said its investigations revealed that the NPOs funded the preservation properties’ acquisition with money they had received, under the auspices of grant funding, from the NLC.
“The properties, therefore, constitute proceeds of unlawful activities hence the application for a preservation order pending the final determination of the application for final forfeiture,” the SIU said on Friday, 13 January.
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DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Mat Cuthbert said this further exemplifies the industrial-scale theft that took place under the former leadership (syndicate) of the NLC and its associates.
Cuthbert said while this money should have gone to the most vulnerable in our society – the syndicate saw it fit to live it up off the backs of the poor.
“This latest action brought by the SIU in obtaining this preservation order reaffirms the good work they have been doing since their proclamation was issued in 2020.
“However, there needs to be a greater urgency on the part of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in charging and prosecuting members of the syndicate. It is not enough for the funds to be recovered; these criminals must be placed behind bars.”
Mat Cuthbert
ALSO READ: SIU freezes Arthur Mafokate’s property linked to NLC fraud scheme
