The investigations by the Bloemfontein’s Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team pertaining corruption in the Free State Department of Human Settlements has yield the arrest of one person.
The suspect Serame Lucas Makhele (42) was granted bail of R1 000 during his first appearance in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on 16 May.
He is charged with corruption. The court postponed the matter to 24 June as part of the Hawks further investigations regarding corruption relating to the financial linked individual subsidy programme.
Makhele’s arrest on Wednesday, 15 May, and subsequent court appearance is based on preliminary findings of the investigation.
Probing began with a search and seizure conducted at the department’s headquarters in Bloemfontein on 13 May by law enforcement agencies, the Hawks, Priority Crime Specialised Investigation (PCSI) and Bloemfontein Tactical Response Team (TRT).
WO Fikiswa Matoti, provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, said probing at the department arose from allegations of fraud, corruption and money laundering involving some departmental officials and attorney firms.
“On 24 April 2024, an official of the Department of Human Settlements attempted to call a certain applicant who made an application for Financial Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) in order to verify information contained in his application.
However, he could not get hold of him. Later on the same day, the official received a call from a man who introduced himself as an employee of a known attorney firm. He told the official that the applicant he had attempted to call earlier does not have a phone and that he (Makhele) will be assisting with the FLISP application.
A follow-up call was made by the suspect on 25 April 2024 to arrange a meeting with the official in the presence of the applicant.
Later, the suspect called again saying that he was aware of an investigation against his firm.
“He requested the official to assist him by processing the FLISP application at a fee of R15 000 to R20 000. He assured the official that the applicant was not aware of the FLISP application,” said Matoti.
She said the incident was reported to the Hawks, prompting the start of full-scale investigation to bring culprits to book.
“A police operation was conducted as approved by the Director of Public Prosecution, resulting in the arrest,” said Matoti.
