Aman (64) appeared in the Bellville Commercial Crimes court last Friday after he allegedly defrauded the government’s Covid-19 Temporary Employer / Employee Relief Scheme (Ters).
The man, who acted as a director and owner of a Blackheath-based signage company, was served by the Hawks serious corruption investigation team with summons to appear in court along with his company (a juristic person) on 6 June.
The company was hit hard by the lockdown imposed in March 2020, says Lt Col Philani Nkwalase, spokesperson for the Hawks. “Consequently about 15 employees did not have income for about one month. However they returned to work when the lockdown was relaxed.”
The company director then allegedly applied for Ters payouts, covering the month they weren’t working as well as the period when the employees had returned to work.
The company received an undue payment of R205 695,45.
“Few employees reportedly received the claimed funds for the period of the business closure whilst others were not paid. The matter was reported to the authorities by the Department of Labour for criminal investigation which led to arrest of the company director,” Nkwalase says.
“The money was later paid back to the department during the course of criminal investigation and this did not deter criminal charges for the offence committed.”
