Johannesburg - The Hawks are investigating corruption in the
medical aid industry and have already raided 12 premises, the Sunday Times
reported.
Trustees of two medical aids, Hosmed and Commed, allegedly
worked with officials from the Council for Medical Schemes, the industry
regulator, to defraud medical aid members, the paper reported, citing an
affidavit from police Lieutenant-Colonel Gezina Lottering.
Allegations against these medical aids first surfaced last
year, but apparently no action was taken against them.
Administrator Allcare, which looks after the medical aid
accounts of 135 000 people, had also been implicated, the newspaper reported.
Lottering's affidavit describes a "culture of
dishonesty" at Allcare, including bribery, corruption, and contraventions of
the Medical Schemes Act.
She said money was systematically stolen from Commed through
the submission of fictitious supplier invoices.
This required the appointment of compliant trustees, who
would allow these fake invoices to be submitted.
Commed and Allcare premises were raided by the Hawks as part
of this investigation, according to the Sunday Times.
One particular case of corruption detailed by the Sunday
Times involved an alleged bribe paid by Allcare to Commed's former chairperson.
David Tsalapedi, a whistleblower fired by Allcare, said in
an affidavit that Raato Mogajane, had asked for a R50 000 bribe to ensure
Commed retained Allcare as its medical aid administrator.
Mogajane denied taking the bribe, suggesting that Tsalapedi
was suffering from sour grapes after his dismissal from Allcare.
Allcare CEO Howard Phillips told the weekly that
"absolutely nothing improper" happened at his company and that
Tsalapedi was fired because he was dishonest