RAF claimants urged to open criminal cases
The Mpumalanga director of public prosecutions advised that claimants may still get their money even after reporting to all departments.
Following numerous revelations of fraud and theft levelled against law firms and attorneys representing road accident victims, claiming funds from the Road Accident Fund (RAF), the director of public prosecutions in Mpumalanga, Adv Nkebe Kanyane, has advised victims to open criminal cases.
Speaking to Mpumalanga News on Friday October 14, at the sidelines of the police organised community imbizo in Matsulu, Kanyane said there are a number of avenues that potential claimants or fund beneficiaries could follow when they know or suspect that they may have been defrauded by their attorneys and law firms.
“The first step to be taken by RAF claimants is to open a criminal case with the police,” she said.
Kanyane advised that after reporting to all the relevant departments, claimants may still get their money since it is insured.
A number of claimants are starting to come forward saying that attorneys have developed a habit of paying their clients only a small portion of the settlement and using the bulk to pay themselves.
Recently, the police arrested a lawyer. She appeared in the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court on suspicions that she allegedly stole R1.8m from her RAF client.
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According to the police report, the 41-year-old female was arrested by the Middelburg-based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit on September 20 for the alleged fraud and theft of payment from the RAF.
It is alleged that during May 2021, the claimant appointed the lawyer, based in Middelburg, to assist in claiming from the fund on behalf of his minor who had been involved in a serious accident. The attorney allegedly submitted the claim and was successful.
Once the money had been paid, the attorney allegedly failed to transfer it to the beneficiary, her client. A case was opened which led to her arrest.
She is out on R20 000 bail.
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Mpumalanga News is currently investigating a similar case in which a Schoemansdal-based pensioner, who was involved in a car accident, also sought the assistance of a law firm to put his claim through.
According to RAF records, the money was paid to the firm’s trust account in 2020, but to date the client has not received his money.
