Health workers paid after scam
2007-10-18 13:09
Port Elizabeth - All the Eastern Cape health department employees targeted in a payroll scam uncovered this week have been paid, the department said on Thursday.
A sizeable portion of the R885 000 involved had also already been recovered thanks in part to prompt action by banks, spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said.
He said the department discovered on Tuesday that account numbers of 98 employees were tampered with on the computerised payroll system.
As a result, their salaries were illegally diverted into other bank accounts, and those employees did not receive their October salaries.
The department had begun an internal probe and police were also investigating.
The same day the scam was discovered, the department asked the provincial treasury for approval to make payouts to the employees compromised by the scam.
This was granted, and by Wednesday afternoon all the employees had their salaries.
- SAPA