8 held for RAF fraud

2003-07-31 12:59

Pretoria - The Road Accident Fund (RAF) is determined to crack down on those who attempt to defraud the organisation, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

Vasco Ndebele, a senior communications officer for the accident fund, said eight people had been arrested in a two-day period on fraud charges involving R700 000.

In Pretoria the Scorpions arrested an attorney, a former RAF employee and two claimants on Thursday for lodging seemingly fraudulent claims of R200 000.

In Durban four people had been arrested the previous day by the commercial crimes unit for lodging false claims of R500 000 against the fund.

Ndebele said a total of 500 people - including doctors, lawyers, claimants and staff members - had been collared for fraud in the past year. He said the usual modus operandi was to claim for accidents that had probably not occurred.

He said thanks to cooperation between the fund, the police and the Scorpions, they had a good success rate in prosecuting criminals who attempted to relieve the organisation of its monies.

He said many of the culprits had received lengthy prison terms - a sentence of 12 years or 15 years was not uncommon.

Ndebele said with the current interventions they were saving an average of R100m a year by identifying fraud before any money had been paid out.

"Fraud has been very prevalent," said Ndebele. "We have been losing up to R500m a year. But with the help of the police we are managing to stamp out a lot of it.

"We are sending a strong message that the noose is going to tighten around anyone contemplating fraud against the Road Accident Fund."

- SAPA