By Thabo Monyela.
TZANEEN- The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) revealed that it has recovered R18 Million through the acknowledgement of the debt process from the law firms which are fingered in the corruption and maladministration of Road Accident Fund (RAF) duplicate payments.
The SIU has pounced on 102 Law firms across the country, which had received duplicate payments from RAF of over R340 million as compensation to persons injured due to motor vehicle accidents, instead of returning the duplicate payments, they opted to either keep it in their Trust accounts or use it to their benefits.
The Unit was empowered by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signing of proclamation R44 of 2021, which authorised them to investigate compensation payments made by RAF to claimants or claimants’ agents, payments made by RAF in a manner that is contrary to the applicable legislation and recover financial losses suffered by the state or RAF.
According to the SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago, several legal practitioners which are being implicated co-operated and signed an acknowledgement of debt to commit to paying back undue financial benefit with interest over an agreed period.
Kganyago further said that they are working closely with the Legal Practice Council (LPC) on the RAF investigation and other law enforcement agencies to ensure effective implementation of their investigation outcomes and consequences management.
