Part of retired public servant’s pension held back by SIU during investigation

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has obtained a preservation order to freeze a portion of a former department of public works and infrastructure official’s pension benefits.

This is to allow the SIU to institute proceedings at the Special Tribunal to recover monies lost by the department in a tender with a service provider.

The SIU said on Tuesday that the Special Tribunal order interdicted and restrained the Government Employees Pension Fund and Government Pensions Fund from paying Clive Charlton R510,024 in pension benefits.

The order will operate as an interim interdict pending the final determination of an action to be instituted by the SIU in the Special Tribunal against Charlton and NECS Electrical Consulting within 30 days.

The SIU said between 2014 and 2018, the department appointed NECS as a service provider to render electrical maintenance and repair services at buildings owned by the department, which other client departments were occupying.

The SIU said its investigation revealed that Charlton allegedly failed to perform his duties with due diligence and failed to verify with subcontractors whether invoices were correct and authentic.

Its investigation also revealed that NECS allegedly submitted various falsified or fraudulent supplier invoices to the department and overcharged it.

The SIU said the department suffered financial losses to the value of R510,042.

The SIU said it applied for the preservation order after Charlton retired on September 30 2021 at the age of 61 and applied for his pension benefits to be paid out.

“The SIU will preserve a portion of his pension benefits until the matter is finalised,” it said in a statement.