Dodgy multi-million rand Rio Olympics grant under investigation

The National Lottery Commission’s (NLC) former board chairperson and its ex-chief operating officer, as well as former senior executives of South Africa’s official Olympic body, are among several people implicated in a dodgy multimillion-rand grant.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has referred the matter to the Hawks for further investigation and handed over a dossier of its investigation into the grant. (The SIU’s mandate is solely to recover state funds lost through corruption and it does not have the power to prosecute.)

The NLC has also filed a separate complaint about the grant with SAPS.

Implicated in the SIU investigation into the R25 million Olympics-related grant in 2016 are NLC former board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda and former NLC chief operations officer Phillemon Letwaba.

Also included in the SIU dossier are South Africa Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) former CEO Tubby Reddy, who has since died, and its former chief financial officer Vinesh Maharaj.

Others implicated are Letwaba’s wife Rebotile Malomane and construction company owner Mashudu Shandukani, through whose foundation millions from the grant were laundered, according to the SIU.

Reddy and Maharaj were dismissed in 2018 after a lengthy disciplinary process. They were found guilty of various misconduct and maladministration charges during a disciplinary hearing in December 2017. Reddy was also found guilty of sexual harassment.

SIU head Andy Mothibi previously told Parliament that SASCOC had acted as a conduit for the MShandukani Foundation, a non-profit entity, for a lottery grant to fund an “[Olympics] Roadshow send off to [the] Rio [Olympics].”

Millions of rands from the grant were paid by Shandukani’s foundation to Malomane’s company, Ironbridge Travelling Agency, which in turn paid R1-million to a car dealership towards a Rolls Royce for Nevhutanda.

The MShandukani Foundation and construction company M. Shadukani Holdings, both headed up by millionaire Mashudu Shandukani, have been identified by the SIU as being used to launder tens of millions of rands misappropriated from lottery grants.

But, there is growing “frustration” on the part of the National Prosecuting Authority and the SIU at the “slow progress” of the Hawks investigation, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told GroundUp.

Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo confirmed there were “a number of cases” related to the NLC under investigation.

Mbambo said some had been referred by whistleblowers, some by company directors, and some by the SIU. However, she said the Hawks were unable to provide details of any of the cases as they were not yet before court.

Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Colonel Noxola Kweza said GroundUp should supply a case number and the name of the police station where the NLC had laid its complaint before she could assist.

Both Nevhutanda and Letwaba have been listed with the South African Fraud Prevention Services (SAFPS) over their involvement in the dodgy 2016 grant, the NLC told GroundUp in response to emailed questions. Steps are also underway to recover money diverted from the lottery funds.

The Fraud Prevention Services states on its website that it strives “to combat fraud through delivering a centralised fraud-prevention function”.

Reddy, Maharaj, Malomane, and Shandukani have also been placed on the NLC’s Non-Compliant Grantee Register - previously known as the Delinquency List. Individuals and non-profits on the list are no longer eligible to apply for NLC funding, the NLC told GroundUp.

Recovery of money paid out for the grant “has been initiated,” the NLC said, without saying what this involved.

“The implicated NLC [former] employees are on the NLC Fraud case management … which is a validation platform for grant funding, employment or procurement and supply chain management processes.”

As a result of the corrupt grant, the NLC placed stringent conditions on a last-minute multimillion-rand grant to support Team South Africa’s participation in the Paris Olympics.

One condition was that the lottery money could only be spent on the athletes, coaches and medical support staff. It could not be used to cover the travel and other expenses of sports administrators or politicians to attend the Games, as has happened in the past.

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

Vinesh Maharaj, who responded to questions via his lawyer, Dev Maharaj, who is not related, said he was not aware of any investigations into his involvement with the grant. There had also been no attempt to recover money from the grant from him, said Dev Maharaj.

“My client also finds it strange that he is listed with the NLC’s Non-Compliant Grantee Register when he never applied for funding from the NLC in his personal capacity,” Dev said.

“The agreement for SASCOC to be a conduit for funds to the NGO [non-governmental organisation] to provide public awareness campaigns countrywide for Team South Africa attending the various regional and international games was signed off by President Gideon Sam, presumably after consultation with his board.

“My client, as the Chief Financial Officer, had serious concerns about the agreement and tabled a request to the SASCOC board not to act as conduits for funds to be channelled to third-party service providers, which concerns were duly noted by the then-SASCOC board,” he said.

Letwaba did not respond to questions sent to him via WhatsApp and email.

An email with questions sent to Nevutanda’s email address on which GroundUp previously corresponded with him bounced back with a message that “the recipient’s inbox is out of storage space and inactive”. He did not respond to a WhatsApp with the same questions.

Shandukani did not respond to questions sent by WhatsAp