Cipro bosses cover butts
Officials 'tried to censor forensic audit findings' May 9, 2010 11:11 PM
By NKULULEKO NCANA
A bitter fight over who should take the fall for millions being stolen from the government to fund terrorism has begun in the department of trade and industry.
Officers 'told of infiltration' more than a year ago Jacob Zuma
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The Sunday Times revealed that Pakistani criminals used the corruption and chaos within the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) to get away with tax fraud, money laundering, racketeering, organised crime, fraud and the financing of international terrorism.
A report into Cipro by forensic investigators commissioned by the department says "numerous" Pakistanis were involved in the scheme, which relied on corrupt officials in the organisation.
One of the Pakistanis in custody in Gauteng, Aliraza Syed Naqvi, is suspected of links to Al Qaeda - which brought down the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Centre in September 2001.
It has emerged that the report has unsettled DTI director-general Tshidiso Matona and his deputy, Zodwa Ntuli, who are the accounting officers of Cipro.
Revelations of the cancer within Cipro, the integrity and efficiency of which is vital to the smooth running of the economy, have sparked bitter infighting between Matona and Ntuli, who are said to be at each other's throat about who should carry the can for the large-scale fraud and corruption.
An insider said: "The truth of the matter is that the heart-beat of our country's economy was infiltrated by terrorists, and this happened on their watch. The situation is untenable and heads are going to roll on this one. The question is, which one?"
The Times can today reveal how Matona insisted in a letter to the forensic investigators that changes be made to their report that would absolve him from being blamed for the rot in Cipro and for the possibility that it had been infiltrated by terrorists.
He allegedly tried to persuade the investigators to make substantial changes to the report, including deleting the references to terror financing.
The report said the Pakistanis used fake South African identity documents obtained from the department of home affairs.
It has also emerged that Ntuli, who was the project leader of the forensic audit, prematurely pulled the plug on the investigators when she learned of the extent of the rot in Cipro that they were uncovering.
She has denied this and insisted that the investigators "completed their mandate".
It is also alleged that Matona and Ntuli were told more than a year ago of the possibility that Cipro had been infiltrated by terrorists.
The police, the National Intelligence Agency, the SA Secret Service and US officials are "vigorously engaged in gathering intelligence on possible terrorism links".
The private forensic report said that tens of thousands of fake or dubious companies had been created through abuse of the Cipro system, including the "cloning" [a form of identity theft] of the international IT company Sun Microsystems.
Probably with the help of corrupt officials of the SA Revenue Service, tax refunds owing to the legitimate Sun Microsystems were diverted into the bank account of the fake company and then sent abroad.
The private forensic report also reveals new evidence implicating Cipro CEO Keith Sendwe - who has been on indefinite sick leave since January - in the apparently corrupt awarding of a R153-million IT contract for an enterprise content management system last year. Matona allegedly instructed the investigators to pin the blame for the tender on Sendwe and not on the "accounting officer".
On April 23, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies released a separate report into Cipro by the auditor-general that also raised questions about the tender and called for action against the officials involved in awarding it.
Officials 'tried to censor forensic audit findings' May 9, 2010 11:11 PM
By NKULULEKO NCANA
A bitter fight over who should take the fall for millions being stolen from the government to fund terrorism has begun in the department of trade and industry.
Officers 'told of infiltration' more than a year ago Jacob Zuma
Related Articles
Corruption at Cipro 'funds global terror'
D-Day looms for Cipro IT tender
Auditor general slams Cipro's suspect tender
The Sunday Times revealed that Pakistani criminals used the corruption and chaos within the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) to get away with tax fraud, money laundering, racketeering, organised crime, fraud and the financing of international terrorism.
A report into Cipro by forensic investigators commissioned by the department says "numerous" Pakistanis were involved in the scheme, which relied on corrupt officials in the organisation.
One of the Pakistanis in custody in Gauteng, Aliraza Syed Naqvi, is suspected of links to Al Qaeda - which brought down the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Centre in September 2001.
It has emerged that the report has unsettled DTI director-general Tshidiso Matona and his deputy, Zodwa Ntuli, who are the accounting officers of Cipro.
Revelations of the cancer within Cipro, the integrity and efficiency of which is vital to the smooth running of the economy, have sparked bitter infighting between Matona and Ntuli, who are said to be at each other's throat about who should carry the can for the large-scale fraud and corruption.
An insider said: "The truth of the matter is that the heart-beat of our country's economy was infiltrated by terrorists, and this happened on their watch. The situation is untenable and heads are going to roll on this one. The question is, which one?"
The Times can today reveal how Matona insisted in a letter to the forensic investigators that changes be made to their report that would absolve him from being blamed for the rot in Cipro and for the possibility that it had been infiltrated by terrorists.
He allegedly tried to persuade the investigators to make substantial changes to the report, including deleting the references to terror financing.
The report said the Pakistanis used fake South African identity documents obtained from the department of home affairs.
It has also emerged that Ntuli, who was the project leader of the forensic audit, prematurely pulled the plug on the investigators when she learned of the extent of the rot in Cipro that they were uncovering.
She has denied this and insisted that the investigators "completed their mandate".
It is also alleged that Matona and Ntuli were told more than a year ago of the possibility that Cipro had been infiltrated by terrorists.
The police, the National Intelligence Agency, the SA Secret Service and US officials are "vigorously engaged in gathering intelligence on possible terrorism links".
The private forensic report said that tens of thousands of fake or dubious companies had been created through abuse of the Cipro system, including the "cloning" [a form of identity theft] of the international IT company Sun Microsystems.
Probably with the help of corrupt officials of the SA Revenue Service, tax refunds owing to the legitimate Sun Microsystems were diverted into the bank account of the fake company and then sent abroad.
The private forensic report also reveals new evidence implicating Cipro CEO Keith Sendwe - who has been on indefinite sick leave since January - in the apparently corrupt awarding of a R153-million IT contract for an enterprise content management system last year. Matona allegedly instructed the investigators to pin the blame for the tender on Sendwe and not on the "accounting officer".
On April 23, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies released a separate report into Cipro by the auditor-general that also raised questions about the tender and called for action against the officials involved in awarding it.
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Special Investigation
Martin Czernowalow
18 March 2010 15:11
Cipro probe completed
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The investigation was prompted by allegations of fraud and corruption at Cipro.
The investigation into the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) has been wrapped up.
The independent investigation firm, commissioned to conduct the probe, says it is ready to submit its report.
Specialised Security Group (SSG) spokesman Warren Goldblatt says the investigation team would submit its report to trade and industry minister Rob Davies tomorrow, but would not give further details.
The investigation was prompted by allegations of fraud and corruption at Cipro, resulting in Davies appointing a team to look into the various aspects of the agency, including a controversial R153 million electronic content management (ECM) tender, awarded to ValorIT.
Allegations of tender rigging involving this deal resulted in Cipro CIO Michael Twum-Darko being placed on special leave two weeks ago, to prevent him from interfering with the investigation.
Twum-Darko, meanwhile, has denied the allegations, saying he is the victim of a racist plot, driven by white former Cipro executives, who want to oust him.
ValorIT chairman Josias Molele has also dismissed any involvement of his company in the allegations, saying Twum-Darko being placed on special leave is an internal Cipro matter.
However, he also says the company has been the victim of a racist plot, aimed at derailing the ECM project. Rival bidder for the tender, Mantra Consulting, protested the awarding of the contract in March last year and called for the contract to be scrapped.
The company subsequently took ValorIT to court, over outstanding consultation fees of R10 million. It further alleged in its legal action that ValorIT received confidential Cipro information, giving it an edge in the tender process.
Goldblatt this morning stated SSG would submit its report to the minister and await further instruction. He emphasised, however, that investigation did not focus on any specific company, but rather on what went wrong at Cipro and its management.
"The minister and his staff are absolutely adamant to clean up Cipro. The investigation was focused on looking at the management and systems, and seeing where the weaknesses are. Rob Davies is committed to sorting out the problems at Cipro and this is a very positive thing."
Web site woes
Meanwhile, Cipro's Web site has been chronically plagued by problems over the past few months, supposedly due to the implementation of the ECM system, which has stalled.
However, Cipro head of communications Elsabé Conradie says in a statement that the most recent problem was caused by a server, serving external customers, being corrupted. "Further investigation is continuing to determine what caused the failure of the server and finding a suitable solution."
Conradie says that, while the investigation is continuing, a temporary solution has been put in place to assist customers with online registrations and lodging annual returns.
"Both internal and external customers are currently being served by the same server, which might result in the Web site being slow from time to time. Customers are, therefore, requested to read the notices and messages Cipro will scroll on the Web site, regarding changes or status of the site," she notes.
She explains that earlier problems, during December 2009 and January 2010, were also due to technical problems.
"A solution was found and the Web site was stabilised, until two weekends ago, when the network system was upgraded. Unfortunately, the upgrade took longer than anticipated and the Cipro Web site was only active on the following Wednesday."
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Cipro CIO on 'special leave'
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