Municipality recovers R2,5m of stolen money

The R2,5-million was retrieved after three people were arrested within days of the incident. They remain in custody in Polokwane while the Hawk’s National Commercial Crimes Unit and the National Forensic Unit of Absa bank investigate the possibility that they are part of a syndicate that targets municipalities.
The Lephalale Municipality appointed an independent auditing firm to investigate whether any of its employees were involved. So far it has been established that the money was transferred into at least 649 beneficiary accounts, which has since been frozen.

A full IT-security review will be done to identify weaknesses in the system which could have allowed access to the account. The municipality’s security system will be upgraded following the investigation.
All electronic transfers are done by the ABSA head office in Pretoria. “We have suspended all internet banking at the municipality itself at least until the investigation is finalised. Our aim is to recover most, if not all, of the R9-million that was stolen and we believe that this internal investigation will safeguard the Municipality’s finances in the future,” Naidoo said.