While the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) managed to obtain a preservation order to seize property worth R325m linked to Hangwani Morgan Maumela, whose companies were flagged by slain state official Babita Deokaran in suspected tender corruption, his family trust amassed more than R2.3bn.
A report by a forensic accounting investigator before the high court in Johannesburg reveals the Maumela family trust received more than R2.3bn between 2018 and 2023, which is more than the money in frozen assets.
Billions linked to family trust
A wider network of companies linked to the Maumela family and Tembisa hospital received R3.7bn, in the same period. This included the R2.3bn by the family trust.
High court judge Rean Strydom granted the NPA the preservation order last month for the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) to seize Maumela’s properties and properties owned by his family trust and those of his relatives, Rumani Maumela and Mbombeni Maumela.
The court order marks a development in the state’s case against companies and business people flagged by Deokaran to have been unlawfully awarded state tenders.
Luxury homes and supercars seized
NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane last week said the court orders were served to the Maumela family members.
Property included in the court order included a R88m property in Bantry Bay, Cape Town, and another worth R14m, a R69m property in Sandhurst, Sandton, and another in the same upmarket apartment units worth R71m.
Vehicles include a Lamborghini Urus Aventador worth R17m, a R17m Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae Coupe, a Bentley Continental GT V8 worth R4m, and a Regency boat worth R1.9m. Overall property value is estimated at R325m.
Business Day last Friday went to one of the properties owned by Hangwani in Fourways. It was occupied by a man who claimed he did not know anything about the Maumela family trust.
The family trust has two properties worth R140m in Sandhurst, in an upmarket and highly protected estate with high walls in Johannesburg.
Morar Incorporated’s head of forensic accounting and investigations Vinay Bositsumune, in an affidavit before the high court, said he investigated 14 entities linked to the Maumela family that received R410m from Tembisa hospital in the period January 2019 to August 2022.
The National Treasury’s specialised audit services unit appointed firms to investigate transactions that took place at Tembisa hospital after Deokaran, then chief director of financial accounting at the Gauteng department of health, was shot and killed outside her home on August 23 2021.
Deokaran’s warning ignored
She was killed three weeks after she submitted a report detailing suspected fraud and other irregularities within the Tembisa hospital supply chain management.
Deokaran identified more than 200 entities that benefited from suspected unlawful contracts.
Bositsumune said evidence indicated several companies owned by Hangwani and his family members regularly submitted requests for quotations to the hospital to supply goods and were regularly appointed over other companies.
Ramaphosa family connection
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office in 2022 said Hangwani is the son of the president’s ex brother-in-law but said he did not have any relationship with him.
“There was use of falsified and fraudulent documentation. We identified instances in which crucial details of companies’ directorships were fraudulently misdeclared by 11 of the syndicate companies,” Bositsumune’s affidavit read.
The majority of the misdeclared companies were owned by Hangwani but made to look as though they belonged to other people.
- Vehicles: R287m
- Properties: R181m
- Attorneys / legal fees: R248m
- Cover quoting / bid rigging: R63m
- Payments to associated companies: R186m
- Medical-related transactions: R27m
- Furniture and lifestyle: R16m
“Eighty percent of all the payments made to the syndicate companies were based on purchase orders awarded, not only without sufficient budget being available, but with the available budget reflected as a negative figure.”
Use of the hospital funds, the forensic report states, was made possible through collusion with the hospital’s supply chain management department.
Black Paper Trading and Suppliers, owned by Hangwani, was successful in all 89 quotations it submitted to the hospital, in all worth R42m.
“No instance was found where the company submitted an unsuccessful quotation. The broad-based BEE certificates were fraudulent. There were 74 instances of awarded purchase orders at a time when there was no budget available.”
The same findings were made with several of the companies owned by Hangwani and his family members.
Money trail and spending patterns
“Our investigation revealed that the total inflows into the bank accounts of the companies was R3,704,248,384 for the period October 2018 until February 2023.”
The money trail of companies linked to Maumela showed they bankrolled attorneys, funded extravagant lifestyles and spent millions on cars.
A sum of R287m was spent on vehicles, R181m on immovable properties, R248m to attorneys, R63m to cover quoting (bid rigging), R186m to companies associated with cover quoting, R27m to medical-related transactions, and R16m towards furniture.
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