Eastern Cape man arrested for allegedly defrauding Sassa of R1.2m

A King William's Town man has been arrested for allegedly defrauding Sassa.
A King William's Town man has been arrested for allegedly defrauding Sassa.
Image: POWER987 News via Twitter

The Hawks have arrested a King William's Town man for allegedly defrauding the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) of almost R1.2-million on Friday.

Hawks spokesperson Lwando Zenzile said the suspect allegedly recruited community members in Bhisho and Zwelitsha to supply him with identity numbers which he then provided to Sassa officials.

“They allegedly fraudulently created disability grants on their behalf between August 2018 and September 2019,” Zenzile said.

The Hawk’s Serious Corruption Crime Investigation Unit and Crime Intelligence and Sassa official teamed up after they were alerted of the fraudulent and corrupt activities.

“The investigating team established that after the money get loaded into individual accounts, the suspect made withdrawals and gave the so called beneficiaries half of the money and the rest was shared between him and the officials,” said Zenzile, adding that further arrests were expected soon.

The 51-year-old from Kwatyutyu is expected to appear at the Zwelitsha Regional Court on Monday.

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