Hammanskraal businessman in court over UIF-Covid19 TERS fraud

A Hammanskraal businessman has appeared in the Pretoria Specialized Commercial Crimes court on allegations of fraud and bribery in connection with the Department of Labour's UIF Covid-19 relief fund amounting to R110-million rand. Thabo Simbini claimed to have terminated more than 6-thousand employees from their employment during lockdown. However, his company, Impossible Services , did not have any employees other than himself. Simbini allegedly fraudulently used people's IDs to claim for UIF and relief benefits without their knowledge. The company was paid more than R110-million based on the fraudulent claims. Meanwhile, Simbini's bank accounts had been frozen by the Assets Forfeiture Unit. The case has been postponed to January 29th. We spoke to our reporter Maluti Obuseng.