Five suspects arrested over the weekend for fraud and corruption are scheduled to appear in the Durban Commercial Crimes Court today.
The arrest is related to the issuing of passports at the Department of Home Affairs offices in KwaZulu-Natal.
A Home Affairs-led law enforcement operation, supported by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, busted a syndicate involved in passport fraud at the uMngeni and Commercial Road offices in Durban.
Among the five people arrested are a former Home Affairs official from the Prospecton office, a municipal project volunteer at the Commercial Road office, and three members of the public - one of whom was found with 226 passports that were recently stolen from the uMngeni Home Affairs office.
Earlier this year, Home Affairs Minister, Dr Leon Schreiber, warned at the launch of the Border Management and Immigration Anti-Corruption Forum (BMIACF) that South Africa was increasingly becoming a “syndicate society”, and that Home Affairs was determined to work with other law enforcement agencies to crack down on syndicates operating in this environment.
The operation follows the dismissal of 33 corrupt officials since July last year, as well as the criminal conviction of eight offenders, with sentences ranging from four to 18 years in prison.
The successful operation was initiated by the Home Affairs’ Counter-Corruption Unit, following information received from the public.
One of the suspects was found with keys to the Home Affairs offices on Commercial Road and at Prospecton.
The same suspect was also found with copies of enabling documents that did not belong to him.
Two further suspects have been identified as members of this syndicate but the Hawks remain on the hunt for them.
“This latest operation lands another blow in our ongoing cleanup campaign at Home Affairs, which is specifically focused on breaking open criminal syndicates.
“The details of the case also reaffirms the urgent work we are doing to digitalise all of our processes, so that it becomes impossible for syndicates to penetrate and manipulate our systems.
“This combination of ensuring criminals are arrested and prosecuted, and using digital transformation to close the loopholes they exploit is how we will ultimately win the war against corruption,” Schreiber said. – SAnews.gov.za
