Service providers who unlawfully profited from the global health panic of 2020 will be forced to pay back the value of the contracts they were awarded.

A report in The Citizen notes that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) secured a Special Tribunal order against 16 service providers who supplied Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the KZN Department of Social Development (DSD).

The SIU and the Special Tribunal do not have the authority to institute criminal proceedings, but state they will refer evidence to the NPA in this instance.

The companies implicated were tied to 18 contracts valued at R21.2m, explaining that the figures quoted were intentionally inflated.

Additionally, the SIU found evidence of corruption against officials within the department.

‘The contracts were awarded by KZN DSD during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The investigation found that all service providers charged rates that exceeded the pricing guidelines set by the National Treasury,’ the SIU stated this week.

‘The report further recommended disciplinary action against several officials and the registration of a criminal case,’ it continued.

The SIU stepped in after an initial investigation into the contracts yielded little results.

Accusations of fraud as well as wasteful and irregular expenditure involving 600 companies tied to PPE contracts have been investigated by the SIU since 2020.

Full report in The Citizen