The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has obtained a preservation order for some of the funds stolen from the Guardian's Fund.
The Guardian's Fund was created to receive and manage money on behalf of persons, who are legally incapable or do not have the capacity to manage their own affairs. This includes minors, unborn heirs, and missing or absent persons.
"Thanks to the hard work of law enforcement agencies, progress is being made on all possible leads. With the help of law enforcement agencies, we pledge to hold accountable all individuals involved in activities that seek to undermine the Guardian's Fund System (GFS)," the department said.
The fund is duly administered by the Justice Department, using an online system called the GFS, which is linked to the bank system (of an appointed service provider) to enable swift and secure payments to the beneficiaries (heirs).
The Guardian's Fund's main purpose is to protect the interests of minors and to help manage their funds in a way that improves their quality of life.
"Early in April this year, the department discovered an illegal breach on the GFS, and found that over R17 million had been lost from the Guardian's Fund. The department's internal forensic investigation immediately set out to investigate the problem and discovered a potential violation of GFS security protocol.
"The preliminary investigation found that the GFS was breached internally by certain officials working in the GFS. These officials have since been placed on precautionary suspension, pending finalisation of the investigations," the department said.
At this stage, the preliminary investigations have revealed that no hacking had taken place.
"After discovering the incident, the department took swift action and suspended payments out of caution and to establish the magnitude of the problem. The Director General (DG) and the senior management of the department met with the senior management of ABSA - the appointed GFS's banking service provider - to discuss, investigate and resolve the deeply concerning incident and its challenges to the Guardian's Fund.
"The bank is collaborating with the department to develop controls for further strengthening protection of the GFS and safeguard the Guardian's Fund.
"Certain measures to improve the security of the payment system have been agreed upon and are being implemented with immediate effect. The department has also explored alternative ways to protect the payment system.
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"As a result, the department began making beneficiary payments last week in the Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Kimberley and Cape Town Offices of Master. The Pietermaritzburg and Makhanda offices will soon start making payments as well," the department said.
The South African Police Service, the Hawks, Financial Intelligence Centre and the Asset Forfeiture Unit are handling the ongoing investigation.
These agencies have shared with the department that their efforts are yielding positive outcomes.
The officials of the department are working around the clock to process all outstanding payments.
In addition, the department is in the process of obtaining the services of a professional service provider to conduct a comprehensive due diligence and review the entire system.
