A family consisting of a mother and daughter, and the daughter’s husband have received jail sentences for fraudulently attempting to claim R31m from the Road Accident Fund (RAF). The trio submitted 537 fraudulent claims from 40 road accidents.
Last Thursday, the Johannesburg Magistrate Court sentenced Tanya Senekal and Jaco Senekal to eight (8) years imprisonment each, of which two (2) years were suspended for five (5) years on condition that the accused are not convicted of fraud committed during the period of suspension. They were each found guilty on 403 charges.
Magdil Groenewald was sentenced to a five-year jail term and may be placed under correctional supervision at the discretion of the Commissioner of Correctional Services or a parole board. She was found guilty on 134 counts of fraud.
The modus operandi of the fraudsters included recruiting individuals to lie about getting injured during a car crash, using number plates of old cars that are no longer road worthy, claiming for injury benefits for road accidents that had no victims, and using stolen numberplates of stationery cars more than once.
RAF Chief Executive Officer, Collins Letsoalo, said: “Fraudulent claims have dire financial and resource im-plications on the RAF in that employees who handle claims must also sift through fraudulent claims. This exercise extends the amount of time it takes to settle valid claims. For this reason, we believe that sentencing related to stealing from claimants and the road users are given maximum sentences and are without suspen-sions.”
The RAF, through its Forensic Investigation Department, continues to refer fraudulent matters to the South African Police Services following preliminary investigations. In the past three financial years, the RAF suc-cessfully stopped fraudulent claims worth over 2.6 billion.
In the unfortunate event of being involved in a motor vehicle accident, the RAF Contact Centre is reachable on 087 820 1 111, from Monday to Friday, 07h45 to 16h00. The RAF can also be reached through its offices countrywide, details of which are available on its website on www.raf.co.za.
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