The Hawks have arrested a Limpopo company director for allegedly defrauding the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) of R3.2 million in Covid-19 relief funds.

The 47-year-old director of a drop-in centre in Mtititi was arrested after a three-week investigation into complaints by the Mtititi community outside Malamulele, said Hawks spokesperson Captain Matimba Maluleke.

It is alleged that between April and August the man claimed R3.2 million in Covid-19 social relief funds from the UIF on behalf of 242 Expanded Public Works Programme workers.

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“It was established during the investigation that the workers’ contracts was terminated before the country’s lockdown was declared by the state president. It is further alleged that the claimed money never reached the pockets of the former workers,” Maluleke said.

The man will appear in the Malamulele Magistrate’s Court on Monday on fraud charges.

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