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The Star reports that millions of rand in alleged “unlawful looting” of the police’s medical scheme Polmed have drawn the ire of scores of police officers, who have slammed the level of coverage received.
Allegations have been made that Polmed, which covers 680,000 members and beneficiaries, has “unlawfully” awarded roughly R15.7m to its board of trustees (BOT) over three years in contravention of its own rules. It has also been alleged that former national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega was “illegally” elected on to the BOT in contravention of Rule 18.9.9, which states: “Any person removed from an office of trust on account of misconduct should not serve on it." According to rule 18.24, Polmed remuneration should be determined by the scheme's annual general meeting (AGM). By Polmed's own admission, the scheme has not held an AGM since 2015, so questions have been raised as to who approved the BOT payments. Moreover, internal Polmed documents show that the scheme's principal officer Neo Khauoe and the BOT's risk committee were aware that the alleged unlawful payments could drag the medical aid into a legal quagmire. Polmed allegedly made illegal BOT payments of R4.93m in 2016, R5.98m in 2017 and R4.80m in 2018, totalling R15.71m, while the annual report shows that the scheme lost over R140m in 2018 from the previous year because of “the increasing claims ratio”.
- Read the full original of the above report by Khaya Koko at The Star
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page