Woman Battling Fraud Charges For Receiving Sassa Old-age Grant While Her Company Sucked R88 Million In Saps Tenders

The trial of Sarathamoney Devi Sigamoney, 67, facing charges of contravention of the Social Assistance Act, perjury, fraud, and theft was postponed in the Pretoria North Regional Court.

Sigamoney was arrested for allegedly receiving social grant payments while she was the sole director of a company receiving millions in tenders from the SA Police Service (SAPS).

The tenders she received from the SAPS were for the supply of office furniture.

The State called on five witnesses from the SAPS and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) to give testimony on the charges Sigamoney is facing, said spokesperson for the Investigating Directorate, Henry Mamothame.

On Tuesday, the State called upon its sixth witness from Sassa, who is a quality assurance officer, and he confirmed that the application to receive social grants was indeed done by Sigamoney.

Subsequently, Sigamoney took the stand led by her attorney, and in her evidence in chief she alleges that she had not participated in any transactions done by the company since 2012, said Mamothame.

She further alleges that the company transactions were done by her son and daughter-in-law.

The matter was postponed to July 29, for cross-examination by the State.

Their section 174 application to have the matter discharged was also dismissed by the court, said Mamothame.

On Monday, a colonel from the SAPS testified on record regarding payments made to KJP Traders, a company which Sigamoney was allegedly the sole director.

The SAPS investigating officer also testified on the payments that were made from the KJPM Traders bank account to purchase various items for the family of Sigamoney.

To that effect, Mamothame said the bank statement of the company, KJP Traders, was handed over to court as an exhibit.

A grant administrator from Sassa testified on how he assisted the accused (Sigamoney) during her application for a grant, where she failed to declare her directorship to KJP Traders, according to the Investigating Directorate.

Another Sassa official gave evidence on how Sigamoney initialled pages on her application in which she declared not to be a holder of shares in any companies.

The last witness from Sassa, responsible for verification of applications, testified on the obligation the applicants have to disclose their shareholding in companies, to which the accused failed to do, said Mamothame.

It is alleged that on April 13, 2017, Sigamoney applied for an old age grant with Sassa attaching a supporting affidavit wherein she stated that she has never worked for a period of 20 years.

On April 16, 2017, Sassa provided Sigamoney with a letter of approval, which she signed for as received, Mamothame said.

She is alleged to have received grant money from Sassa amounting to approximately R123,000 from July 2017 to July 2022. Subsequent to charges being registered against her, she continued to receive the grant for a further 16 months.

Mamothame said that although she is listed as the director of KJP Traders Pty and her son, KJP is alleged to have conducted business with the state as early as 2012, preceding her application to Sassa.

He said Sigamoney was listed as the director of KJP Traders Pty, a company which allegedly multi-million rand business with the state as early as 2012, preceding her application for Sassa grant.

The Investigating Directorate said at some point, Matthew Pillay, Sigamoneys son, would also be listed as a director of the company.

Furthermore, the company is estimated to have cashed in approximately R88 million from the SAPS contracts, to which the last payment was in 2022, according to the Investigating Directorate.