The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has declared that R111-million in the frozen bank accounts of Hammanskraal businessman Thabo Abel Simbini is forfeited to the State.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the forfeiture order the court issued on Tuesday followed a successful preservation order it obtained last year in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act on the basis that the funds constituted the proceeds of crime.

The NPA alleges that Simbini, through his business Impossible Services (Pty) Ltd, defrauded the UIF by claiming he had to lay off more than 6 000 employees because of Covid-19.

“The unlawful activities were committed against the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) of the Department of Employment and Labour.  An amount of R111-million that was intended for Covid-19 relief fund[ing] and individual claims not related to Covid-19 [were] fraudulently paid into [the] Impossible Services Pty Ltd FNB bank account belonging to Thabo Abel Simbini,” the NPA said in a statement.

Regional NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana added, “After the funds were fraudulently paid into this account, Thabo Abel Simbini transferred the monies to several FNB bank accounts.”

On 13 November 2020, the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) issued intervention notices to various banks to temporarily “freeze” the funds implicated in the actions of Impossible Services to assist law-enforcement agencies with their process of possible recovery, according to the NPA.

“This resulted in the AFU successfully obtaining [a] preservation order. The success of the application is directly related to the productive and professional working relationship that exists in the Fusion Centre between the FIC, DPCI (The Hawks), and other law enforcement agencies, as well as the Asset Forfeiture Unit,” Mahanjana said.

The NPA said the recovered funds would be paid back to the UIF.

Simbini is facing charges of corruption in the matter before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crime Court. He was arrested in 2020 during an undercover operation by the Hawks.

It is alleged that he tried to “bribe the UIF official for the release of the stolen funds. He paid the UIF official a bribe of R10 000 and was arrested [during] a sting operation by members of the DPCI”.

The matter was postponed to 1 February 2022.