A woman has been arrested by the Hawks in the Eastern Cape over alleged fraudulent Covid relief claims.
A 49-year-old woman has been released on R1500 bail in relation to the Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) fraud allegations.
Nomvuzo Melody Kupiso, director of Khayathi Trading CC, was arrested by the East London Serious Corruption Investigation of the Hawks, in collaboration with National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Thursday.
She appeared before the King Williams Town Magistrate’s court on the same day on allegations of fraud, forgery and uttering.
“On 23 March 2020 during lockdown, the employers were reportedly encouraged to continue paying their workers and later claim from Covid-19 Temporary Employer Relief Scheme (TERS).
“(The director) allegedly intentionally and unlawfully lodged a claim from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) on behalf of her employees through her company. The employees are reported to have denied receiving payment from the employer which led to the investigation by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
“The matter was later referred to the Hawks for a thorough probe,” Eastern Cape Hawks spokesperson, Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana, said.
According to the Hawks, its investigation revealed that “indeed (the woman) had intentionally and unlawfully by making the material misrepresentation claim to defraud UIF, where the actual prejudice of an amount of over R200 000 was suffered in a claim of her employees”.
“She was ultimately arrested by the Hawks investigating team and made her first court appearance before the King Williamstown Magistrates' court on the same day, where she was released on R1 500 bail.”
The matter was remanded to April 30, 2024 to be transferred to East London Regional.
Cape Times
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