MP travel voucher fraud probed

2003-07-09 15:57

Cape Town - Secretary to parliament Sindiso Mfenyana says he is waiting to hear from police whether any evidence has been found implicating MPs in the fraudulent use of parliamentary travel vouchers.

"But as far as we know, up to this point, no members have wilfully or deliberately connived with travel agents in this regard. There is no such evidence," he told Sapa on Wednesday.

Mfenyana had been asked to respond to a report in Die Burger newspaper on allegations, made by certain unnamed travel agencies, that "dozens of senior MPs from various parties have for years been misusing their vouchers for personal gain".

According to the report, the agencies say certain MPs "exchanged their vouchers for hotel accommodation for themselves and their families, to hire cars, and even for cash".

This, if correct, will be a clear contravention of parliamentary rules governing the use of such vouchers.

Five travel agencies are currently facing criminal charges, laid by parliament on Tuesday, in respect of travel services they have provided for MPs.

Commercial Crime Unit police and forensic auditors have removed documents from the premises of the agencies allegedly involved in the fraud.

Discrepancies

The investigators have been scrutinising invoices sent by the agencies to parliament, following the discovery of "discrepancies" between amounts billed and the actual cost of tickets used by MPs.

It is alleged the five agencies sometimes billed Parliament for an extra leg to trips shown on the issued tickets.

Mfenyana on Wednesday said he had not seen the report in Die Burger.

However, he repeated what he had said in a statement earlier this week: "We do not have evidence that members... were part of this."

"In other words, we haven't got any evidence of their guilt because the few we did approach when it came to the question of added journeys to their original vouchers were not aware, in fact did not undertake, that extra leg of their journey."

Asked if the guidelines governing use of the vouchers - certain MPs receive up to 60, to be used to buy single flights to and from Parliament for themselves and their dependants - were clear, Mfenyana said: "They are very clear."

"MPs know that the vouchers they are given at the beginning of the year... are purely for their air travel purposes, and that other expenditures are dealt with separately," he said.

Scapegoats

Die Burger said the travel agencies under investigation had named, among others, "deputy ministers, party leaders, whips and other well-known politicians" in the misuse of vouchers.

The agencies had also claimed that "parliament wants to make scapegoats of the five agencies to protect MPs".

According to Mfenyana, the results of the police investigation and the forensic audit "will be made public as soon as circumstances permit".

A parliamentary spokesman told Sapa the auditors were examining documents from as far back as 1999.

Mfenyana said one aspect that needed to be looked at was whether the MPs themselves had not intended to pay for a portion of the tickets.

"Some (MPs) would say, 'Oh yes, this was an extra hotel bill... and I expected the agency would bill me for this. I knew that hiring a car was outside my voucher and I expected the agency to bill me for this'.

"It's that type of situation that we need to clarify," he said.

- SAPA