Actress Terry Pheto is among those accused of involvement but she has denied this. Pheto says she will fully cooperate with the SIU.

Others are the NLC’s former chief financial officer Philemon Letwaba, chief executive officer Lesley Ramulifho, and the attorney. They are all facing fraud and corruption charges.

The SIU spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago, explains what process will follow the money trail: “The court has given us 90 days to make sure that we bring this matter to court. Any of the individuals can defend this matter and once they have defended the matter, the judge will decide whether to give a final order. Once they give the final forfeiture order, the properties will be forfeited to the state. It will be sold to recover the money that needs to go back to the Lottery Commission.”

The National Lotteries Commission says it is working with the banking sector to weed out corruption after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) announced it had uncovered dodgy grants totalling R1.4 billion.

In the latest developments, the Assets Forfeiture Unit has obtained a preservation order against property worth around R25 million - including nine luxury homes – which are the alleged proceeds of unlawful activities at the commission.

The commission’s chairperson, Prof. Barney Pityana, says with the help of the new board, he hopes to turn things around.

“There has been a culture in the commission of solidarity with wrongdoing. And there’s also been a culture whereby the control mechanisms were not working, which is why so much has happened. So, we’re now trying to tighten up the control mechanisms and make sure they happen. We’re dealing with those within the commission, the executives in particular, who have been found to have been responsible for the misdoings in the commission.”

SABC News