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Two senior employees at the Northern Cape Department of Sports, Art and Culture (DSAC) were arrested on Wednesday morning, 6 March.
A third person, who is a former senior employee at the department, handed herself over.
Bonakele Jacobs (55), the chief director: Corporate Services, and Andrian Coleridge (50), the chief financial officer, were arrested at their workplace, said Lt. Col. Tebogo Thebe, spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks).
The third suspect is Ruth Palm (61), the former Head of Department.
They were arrested by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team for allegations of contravening the Public Finance Management Act, fraud, and money laundering.
This follows after the DSAC made an irregular payment to a service provider without any services being rendered to the department.
The payment was allegedly meant for the Umsombovu Youth Festival that was scheduled to take place in Colesberg in December 2016.
The festival never took place and the DSAC suffered a loss of R1 million.
The other accused in the matter, a company as a juristic person, and its director were previously charged. These charges are to be reinstated, said Thebe.
The accused made a brief court appearance before the Kimberley Magistrate Court on Wednesday.
The three suspects were each granted bail of R10 000, and the matter was postponed to 25 March.
