Rustenburg - Seven family members and close relatives arrested for defrauding the Department of Labour of over R108 000 through the Temporary Employer/ Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) funds were released on bail in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court.
Ismail Brown, 45, Mariam Brown, 44, Mogamat Anwar Majiet, 49, Noerudeen Brown, 44, Mogamat Igshaan Joharie, 44, Abdul Kariem Brown, 50, and Mogamat Shafiek Brown, 42, were released on R2 500 bail each on Thursday.
They were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday on a warrant and subsequently appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on 18 charges of fraud, forgery, uttering and one charge of corruption for swindling the Covid-19 TERS funds.
"It is alleged that during March 2, 2015, Kasam Services (Pty) Ltd registered the company with the department of Labour in the section of Unemployment Insurance Fund [UIF] as contributor.
"Through internal investigation it was revealed that four employees were declared during the employer registration process on August 22, 2019 and the applications for the four employees were tendered in to receive unemployment benefits," said Hawks spokesperson in the Western Cape, Zinzi Hani.
An additional three employees were declared on September 6, 2019 and also applied for unemployment benefits.
"Intensive investigation showed that the claim that was submitted for Mariam Brown was fraudulent, as she has never worked for Kasam Services (Pty) Ltd.
"Further investigation showed that Kasam Services (Pty) Ltd did not submit the applications to the Unemployment Insurance Fund and that the employees were not employed at Kasam Services or where no longer in the service of Kasam Services," Hani said.
Investigation also exposed that the applications were submitted by Ismail Brown who is the brother of Abdul Brown who is married to the director of the company.
"Mariam Brown is the wife of Noerudeen Brown who is employed at the Department of Labour: Unemployment Insurance Fund as Client Service Officer, is alleged to have ensured that the claims were processed.
"Investigation revealed that three of the claims already received part of the UIF benefits to the value of R108 057.97. The other four claims were placed on hold when it came to the attention of the department of labour that these claims were fraudulent. This then led to the matter being referred to the Hawks for further probing and led to the arrest of the accused," Hani said.
The case against them was postponed to May 15.
IOL