BusinessLive reports that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has obtained a preservation order to freeze a portion of a former department of public works and infrastructure official’s pension benefits.

This is to allow the SIU to institute proceedings at the Special Tribunal to recover monies amounting to R510,042 lost by the department in a tender with a service provider. The SIU advised on Tuesday that the Special Tribunal order interdicted and restrained the Government Employees Pension Fund and Government Pensions Fund from paying Clive Charlton R510,024 in pension benefits. The order will operate as an interim interdict pending the final determination of action to be instituted within 30 days by the SIU in the Special Tribunal against Charlton and NECS Electrical Consulting. According to the SIU, its probe showed that Charlton allegedly failed to perform his duties with due diligence and failed to verify invoices with subcontractors. The SIU applied for the preservation order after Charlton retired on 30 September 2021 at the age of 61 and made application for his pension benefits to be paid out. “The SIU will preserve a portion of his pension benefits until the matter is finalised,” it said in a statement.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ernest Mabuza at BusinessLive
• Read too, SIU freezes pension fund of retired former public works official, at IOL

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