Several Employers who illegally benefitted from the Covid-19 TERS relief fund have been voluntarily returning money to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping says an amount of R3.4 Billion was voluntarily returned as a result of media headlines of employers being arrested and appearing in court for Ters-related fraud.
He says they are now anticipating even more arrests and convictions through their partnership with law enforcement agencies and will continue their project of "following the money".
UIF Deputy Director: Governance, Smiso Nkosi, told journalists that at least R14,1 billion that was disbursed through Covid-19 TERS had been audited during phase one of the "follow the money" project.
R12,8 billion was audited and deemed as accurate payments; R918 million had been recovered to the UIF's coffers; and regretfully, R387 million was suspected to be fraudulent payments and referred for further investigation.
Six forensics auditing firms have been appointed to assist in the operation.
