A woman and two men have been arrested for stealing over R5 million worth of food that was donated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to the World Food Programme (WFP) for its humanitarian relief work in Malawi.
Hawks Spokesperson, Lloyd Ramovha, says the suspects’ company was tasked to transport the food from a warehouse in Durban to Malawi.
An investigation showed the food never left South Africa but was instead sold for self-gain within the country.
Ramovha says the South African Revenue Services (Sars) registered a criminal case of fraud in contravention of the Value Added Tax Act (VAT) and Excise Act in June 2017 after it became clear that something was amiss.
Ramovha says the 44-year-old woman and 51 and 62-year-old men will appear in court next month.
“Three company directors are expected to appear in court on the 8 of June after they were arrested, respectively, on Tuesday and Wednesday. This is in respect of R5 million worth of foodstuffs that they defrauded. And this was donated by the US agency for international development to the World Food Program. And it was actually meant for humanitarian relief. The supplies included tons of refined vegetable oil and split peas. This was meant for relief operation in Malawi.”
