The Pretoria North Regional Court sentenced Sarathamoney Devi Sigamoney (69) to a cumulative 10 years direct imprisonment on five charges that include perjury, fraud and theft.
This is after she defrauded the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) pension payouts while being the sole director of a company that was awarded tenders worth millions from the South African Police Service (SAPS) to supply office furniture. She has applied for leave to appeal.
In his sentencing remarks, Magistrate Pieter Nel highlighted the need to convey a strong message to potential perpetrators, on the seriousness of such offences.
The court previously granted the Asset Forfeiture Unit a confiscation order against her, stipulating that an amount of R138 593.00 with interest calculated at 11.25% per annum, calculated from the date of this order, be paid back to SASSA.
Sigamoney’s conviction is as a result of an occurrence of 13 April 2017, wherein she 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 18 April, SASSA provided Sigamoney with a letter of approval, which she signed for as received. 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.
Although she is listed as the director of KJP Traders Pty and Matthew Pillay (her son), KJP is alleged to have conducted business with the state as early as 2012, preceding her application to SASSA. Furthermore, the company is estimated to have cashed in approximately R88 million from the SAPS contracts, to which the last payment was in 2022.