Heath unit to act against IBA officials

The Heath special investigative unit has decided to take legal action against former Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) officials in an effort to recover more than R200 000 in state funds. A probe by the Auditor-General in 1997 found three former councillors - Peter de Klerk, Lindall Shope-Mafole and Sibeletso Mokone-Malabane - had charged personal expenses to their business credit cards and claimed allowances to which they were not entitled. The three resigned their posts after accepting responsibility for a breakdown of financial and administrative controls at the IBA, but denied they were liable to reimburse the authority.

Heath unit spokesman Guy Rich said Section 5 notices - the equivalent of a summons - would be drafted and issued to "four or five ex-IBA officials" within a fortnight.He declined to name the officials, saying this could only be done once the notices had gone out. Rich said the unit had consulted the auditing firm Deloitte and Touche - which was instructed by the Public Protector in 1997 to investigate the controversy - and decided to institute legal action.

Those officials who received a Section 5 notice would be entitled to legal representation, and given 21 days to file a return notice to say whether they intended to defend the action against them. A pre-trial hearing would then be held, and a date set down for the matter to be heard by a special tribunal. The tribunal, a special court of law which has the power to hand down judgements for assets to be recovered, should sit before the end of September, Rich said. The money was outstanding for more than two years, he said.

In an audit report on the IBA for the year ended March 31, 1998, and tabled in Parliament on Monday, the Auditor-General said the body's financial statements fairly reflected its financial position, and there were significant improvements in its financial controls. The pay packages of serving IBA councillors had been reduced in November last year to bring them into line with salaries approved by the state expenditure department. The audit report noted that money owed by the three councillors was still outstanding.

Source: IoL