The Road Accident Fund is being targeted by fraudsters who are said to be colluding with corrupt police officers and the organisation’s employees in order to get their hands on payouts, says a Cape Times report. It adds dishonest touts, doctors and lawyers go as far as fabricating claimants’ payslips and medical records or create fictitious dependants and customary marriages for the claimants in order to inflate cash payouts.

In some instances, claimants have provided specialist titles to try to deceive the RAF investigators to approve their inflated claims. The RAF’s 2016/17 annual report showed a significant rise in fraudulent claimed amounts made to the entity. The number of rejected claims increased from 612 in the 2015/16 financial year to 643, resulting in R901m in fraudulent claims being detected by its Forensic Investigation Department before payouts were made. The dirt also extended to RAF employees, as 170 cases of fraud were investigated internally, of which 37 were for misconduct and fraud, which yielded 14 convictions, four resignations while investigations were under way, five suspensions and 11 cases where disciplinary action was instituted.

Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)