The Citizen reports that 19 accused appeared before the Nelspruit District Court on Monday after they were arrested by the Hawks for allegedly stealing R2.3 million via the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS).

According to police spokesperson Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi, individuals within the medical scheme allegedly conspired with pharmacies to defraud the scheme by submitting claims for services that were not actually provided by the pharmacies. GEMS members also allegedly received non-medical goods in exchange for these false submissions. “GEMS conducted internal investigations to determine the veracity of the allegations of false claim submissions. During the investigation, it was discovered that members of the medical scheme colluded with the pharmacy directors to make misrepresentations to GEMS knowing that what they were doing was not in line with the prescripts regulating pharmacies as prescribed in the regulations. The complaint was reported to the Hawks in 2020, whereby an investigation was conducted [and] the arrests made,” Sekgotodi stated. The accused were released on varying amounts of bail. The case was postponed to 28 March 2023 for further investigation.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at The Citizen

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