THE Road Accident Fund (RAF) chief executive officer, Dr Eugene Watson, has praised the fund’s forensics unit and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for cracking down on the syndicate accused of defrauding the RAF of about R12-million.
The RAF Forensics Investigations Department (FID) has investigated allegations of several false motor vehicle accident claims in the Port Shepstone area since 2010. This has resulted in several arrests by the South African Police Service in recent weeks of a number of suspects, including doctors, policemen and a tout, who worked in collusion with fake claimants to scam the fund.
Those who were arrested have appeared in the Port Shepstone Magistrates’ Court and the case was postponed to May 5, for further investigation.
Dr Watson said the fund’s message to fraudsters was clear: “You’ll be caught, it’s just a matter of time.”
Fraud and corruption was a major challenge facing the organisation and Dr Watson appealed to everyone to report suspected fraudulent activities, including those involving staff, to the fraud hotline at 0800 005 919.
“The RAF has a zero tolerance policy towards fraud and corruption. We will vigorously pursue any party,by all legal means available, which engages in such activities or attempts to do so.
“There is a whistle-blowing policy in place that encourages staff to report instances of suspected fraud anonymously while all other allegations of fraud can be made confidentially on our fraud hotline,” said Dr Watson.
In the year ending March 31, 2014, there were 478 arrests for fraudulent activities committed against the RAF, and 573 convictions.
