Sentencing Proceedings To Resume Against Covid-19 Ters Thief
The Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, sitting in Palm Ridge is expected to hear sentencing proceedings, in the case of theft of the Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) Fund, against the sole Director of LPG Clotilda (Pty) Ltd,Lindelani Gumede on 18 August 2022. Gumede was convicted on 32 counts of theft of TERS benefits, to the tune of more than R11 million, for creating and submitting applications for employees on the Covid19Ters system, purporting, in a form of Comma-Separated Values (CSV) files, that they were employed by Country pies, LPG Clotilda (Pty) Ltd, Odonus Investments (Pty) Ltd and La Mela (Pty) Ltd. This, even though these entities never submitted applications for temporary relief funds to the Department of Labour.
The state of National Disaster was declared by the South African Government on the 26th of March 2020, due to the Corona Virus Pandemic of 2019 (COVID-19). The National Lockdown that ensued, meant that businesses stopped operating and people stopped pursuing their livelihoods which impacted their income. In response to the National Lockdown, the South African Government, through the Department of Labour, set up the TERS for 5 months to assist employers by paying a limited portion of employees’ salaries where the employer had to close operations (completely/or partially) due to the National Lockdown and/or linked with the Covid 19 pandemic. Employers, registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), were required to make applications on behalf of their employees to the Department of Labour. These benefits would then be paid directly to the Employer who would then pay the employee(s).
Inquiries:
Phindi Mjonondwane
NPA Spokesperson- Gauteng Local Division
0626906505/0112204245