The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has deployed more than 360 forensic auditors to knock on the door of businesses and check the veracity of Covid-19 TERS Relief Scheme claims.
Financial records are to be checked, the authenticity of TERS claims verified, while the correct amounts of money paid over to workers at the right time would be verified, the UIF said in a statement on Wednesday.
Seven companies with auditing and forensic investigation expertise had been enlisted to implement phase two of the UIF’s “follow the money” project, which got under way in July, this year.
Phase 1 saw the UIF audit R14.1 billion, of which R12.8bn was audited and deemed accurate payment; R918 million was recovered to the UIF; and R387m was suspected to be fraudulent payments and referred for further investigation.
To date, the fund had recovered R3.4bn for which 10 people had been sentenced. Another 46 who are suspected of committing Covid-19 TERS-related offences had been arrested and were facing prosecution.
The UIF initially set aside R40bn for Covid-19 TERS for three months in 2020, but the National State of Disaster was extended and subsequently, the Covid-19 TERS was also extended to the extent that it eventually paid out R64bn to 5.7 million employees.
The audit companies whose services have been enlisted are: The Accounting Village; NKS Chartered Accountants; Inqaba Kadiya Consulting; Leolo and Partners Chartered Accountants; Morobi Chartered Accountants; Ndemex Business Solution; and Ligwa Advisory Services.
UIF commissioner Teboho Maruping said employers who benefited from Covid-19 TERS should get their ducks in a row to ensure compliance with the UIF internal auditors and enlisted audit companies.
“Over the past few months, we have witnessed how some employers were being convicted and jailed for Covid-19 TERS fraud. It is disturbing that the UIF is still receiving complaints about companies who allegedly received Covid-19 TERS monies but failed to pay these over to their workers. Allegations have also come to light that some employers were only paying part of the money over to workers and not the full amounts, and that companies were using the money for other purposes,” said Maruping.
The UIF has urged employers to grant auditors access to their premises and pro-actively prepare for the audits by having at least three months’ pre-lockdown payroll reports, bank statements proving that Covid-TERS funds were paid over to employees, employee salary advice related to the payments, as well as salary reconciliations readily available to the auditors.
Maruping said from the start of Covid-19 TERS, the UIF was cognisant of the possible risks of fraud, and hence it proactively established the “follow the money” project.
BUSINESS REPORT