Specialised Commercial Crime Unit

John Ross House Johnson Lane Durban- 031 3356600

Who We Are

• Specialist Prosecutors within the NPA tasked with the investigation and prosecution of commercial crime cases . We are known as the SCCU. We are based in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban , Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.

What We Do

• We prosecute commercial crime cases emanating mainly from the Commercial Branch of the South African Police Services. We typical deal with cases such as Fraud, Theft, Corruption, and various other statutory offences.

How We Do This

• We work in collaboration with the victims of commercial crimes, the police and other stakeholders.

• The prosecutor and the investigator strategise the investigation together at the inception of the case.

• We try to adhere to procedural guidelines aligned to target dates.

Fraud

An unlawful and intentional making of a misrepresentation which causes actual

prejudice or potential prejudice to another

Syndicated Fraud

This will include the inclusion of two or more people who conspire or work

together in a furtherance of a common purpose.

Detection

• Phone calls to Hotline numbers• Irregular claims by members of medical Aid• High Claim rate by Service Providers• Audit Processes reveal discrepancies

Resources Available to the state

• It has been noted that in many of the case involving Fraud within the Medical Aids or Health Care Services, there is surely a private investigator or Forensic Investigator.

• State is presented with investigation already completed by these individuals and often followed by an audit report or affidavit.

Problems Experienced

The Defence is very quick to object to this evidence referring to the right to Fair Trail being compromised.

Section 215 of the Constitution Act 2000 of 1993. Reference is made to the term complainant Driven

investigation

Factors to be considered by the state

• The proper evidential proof regarding documentary evidence is available.

• The chain of evidence is preserved• The relevant report and statements are appropriate

for use in court

The collection of Documentary Evidence

• The investigator must ensure that he\she had authority \permission to extract the information or

documents.• A mandate from the complainant authorising the

private company\individual to investigate is crucial.

Chain of Evidence

• Details of individuals in control of these documents must be kept so that a statement may be obtained at a later stage.

• Details of every person who deals with the documents from inception right up and until the document is handed to the

police for prosecution must be noted.

The Report or Affidavit

• Advisable to liaise with the prosecutor to ascertain the depth of the report.

• This will relate to the period of the investigation and the number of counts that the investigation reveals.

• Report must be an easy read.

Case Law

• There are 2 leading case law in this area of prosecution

• State v Botha and others (1) 1995(2) SARC 598, court held that evidence of a private investigator is admissible, where the evidence was not irregularly obtained.

• R v Sole 2004 (2) SACR 599 (Les) Evidence of an expert or layman which serves to place evidence in a manageable form in a complex case is admissiable.

Case Law continued

• Once the SAPS is involved, the investigator must work under the

supervision and in the presence of the state or at the state’s request.

Case Study

• There may be many different methods in which the Fraud is committed.

• Dealing with the more complex matters, it would relate to Service Providers e.g. Doctor creating false claims, but also roping in other doctors, pathology laboratories, social workers. Psychologists and nurses.

• Doctors have charged for medication not dispensed.• Services providers have falsely claimed for multiple

consultations.