Radio Miraya
2761: South Sudanese supply companies falling victim to fake NGO scams
South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, RSC, has issued a warning to the public and some supply companies to do their due diligence through RSC before responding to tenders or advertise on NGO Forum. Now the RSC says it has so far received reports of possible scams from over 16 supply companies and these scams are reportedly perpetuated by suspected organized criminals who operate as registered NGOs. Now Dominic Michael Genge, the registrar for NGOs at the RSC joins me in the studio to expound on the matter. Good morning. Welcome to the program. Good morning. Irene Lassu. Right. Yes. So what events prompted the issuance of this circular? Yeah. Thank you for the question. I'm here just to allow the public, general public, about the dangers of risk commerce. Hmm. People who like to turn this country into abyss, using our documents, the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission gives equal opportunity to all South Sudanese, not based on their creed, political affiliation or where they come from or tribal influence. Right. So what a transport to this secular is we have a case which is under investigation by the police now. In January this year, an organization in the name of action aid South Sudan was registered on 9th January, 2024. A lawyer came to our office as part of the usual requirements. They came from name reservation and they also write constellations on behalf of their clients. Yes. When they write the constellations, we look at the objectives of such organizations. What do they want to do? Are the objectives in tandem with humanitarian principles or not? So they satisfied all these requirements. And at the back of the constitution, as part of our due diligence, we request organizations also to append the list of the founding members signed by them with their contacts and identity cards. Copies. Yes. Okay. Now this is coming from actually registered companies now as I mean in years rather now as a registrar, like how are you going to start sieving through? Thank you. Now we have low enforcement regulators. We give benefit of doubt to our local lawyers also. But with this experience now, it has caused mistrust and doubt within our legal system even because that means the lawyers themselves, they need to do their part. Yes. If they are representing their clients, they need to do due diligence as well. They need to do non-repidation tests to ensure that the clients or who they claim they are. Right. They shouldn't just take individuals representing a whole group and then there may be such individuals can sign on behalf of the others and the claim that they have done due diligence. That's not enough. So what happened is when this case was brought to us, immediately under my direct rate, I have a department for operation and compliance. I immediately deployed them, we went, this particular NGO, local NGO was also in the same premises with another international NGO called Mercy Corp. Right. Yeah. So they were renting part of the building just to look genuine in the eyes of their... No. Yes. Clients. Right. And if not enough, they went ahead to hire a vehicle called Hatok Toyota Land Cruiser. And they leveled it. Action, et cetera. So that made it to look even more genuine, more legit. Then what I did was to impound that vehicle because I received a couple of companies coming. So I impounded the vehicle and then took it to the police just for safety until investigations conducted. Right. And we found in the compound, one of the nationals, one of the neighbors in the region, was part of the hierarchy tier. So we took Hatok our office, we interrogated her, of course, pending some due diligence so that police can pick her up. Right. So this is one of these guys called me immediately and he said, "Don't make you know what? We are going to pay this money by Friday. It was like on a Wednesday, by Friday we are going to clear this payment." So I love this lady to go. She's a Kenyan. Okay. Yeah. So just briefly, this is how these people conduct business. But when Friday came, this lady disappeared and this guy never paid the companies. Right. But we had the details of the lady because I took her contacts. Even we know where she is in Kenya. Okay. The case is with the police. So she can easily be trusted. Yeah. She's not even where she is. The police now, there is one officer who is in charge of this case at Malakia. So they would like to use the Interpol so that this lady can be apprehended or even be extradited to South Sudan. Right. Because we are a member of the state now. Right. I'm actually looking through the website Action 8 here and there's nothing substantial about South Sudan. I'm saying. Yeah. Okay. So how were they operating? How were they able to scum the unsuspecting clients? You know, what they did was they went to end your forum website. Even prior to registration in December because they registered on 9th January. But we found out that- So they even less, they just say, yeah, you know- Yes. Yes. Not even a year. It is just January. This year. Yes. Yes. Wow. So what they did in December was the issue tender on the NGO website, the advertising on the website of NGO Forum. Right. And some of these companies fell victim. Because prior even to doing due diligence, they were excited that it is an organization and which has dollars, that is like cheats, exactly. Yeah. Of course, they were not registered. Yeah. By that time. Yeah. By that time. But I failed to understand how these companies went and then conducted business with them. So what they do is they call companies after advertising on the website. Now they offered it's tender. The companies supplied food items. The food items are meant for, say, off energies. They took the food items to the off energies. Then from there, the companies didn't do delivery note, honestly. All these companies, I interrogated them, I asked them. Why did you issue delivery note? Because how do you just trust somebody from face value that this is a legit without doing your part? To know. Yeah. Exactly. To know the contact, the location, all this. So this is what happened. Right. Yeah. Like I said, looking at the website, I'm seeing action aid USA. Yes. And the countries that they are in, they have a photo in, there's no south of them saying Burundi, JRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya and South Sudan is not part of it. So I think those people saw the loophole and they came and, wow. And exploited. Right. Right. Okay. So now that the matter is under investigation with the police, what is being done in the meantime, in your office to ensure that people get to know about this? I mean, three of the suspects have been detained under a police custody, now pending investigations. And the one in Kenya, we are working with the police. Because the Relive and Rehabilitation Commission, we have integrated our programs with all government institutions, including the security ovens, Ministry of Labor in terms of work permit, Ministry of Interior in terms of visas, verification, biometric, with the South Sudan Revenue Authority for issues of taxes and the like. So we integrate our programs with all government institutions because we are part of the whole system coordinating NGOs of activities in the country. So that's what we have done. The three who are under custody, the lawyer was taken last week to the cell and then they brought the suspect out and he clearly identified one of them that this is the guy who came to him and registered and they told him to go ahead with the registration of the organization. That means this guy, he also, he had a previous case with us, he has been on the run, this particular guy. And I'm happy that he's detained now because they have tried it not once, not twice, but this is the third time, yes. And almost the same, they come with different names. I mean, everything has 40 days, so. Yes, they have 40 days. That's why you hear people engaged in indulging in predicate offenses, like the counterfeit organized crimes. They are nabbed now because either in our country here or in neighboring Uganda, you can't hear about exactly what they are listening to, I have heard more about that. So that is the good thing of interoperability. So we don't operate in isolation from the rest of other institutions. Right. Yes. Dominic, how are these comers getting them, and what are they making them money? Thank you. Now, what we came to realize is after getting these items, say food items from the companies, instead of distributing them, because part of their constitution or why we issue certificates to them, they are not for profit organizations. But they take these items to the market, to sell, to sell. Right. They go and sell, and the proceeds of crimes are shared. That's how they are, they just lower people, you fall victim, they exploit you, they take your items. So that means they never deliver to what they claim they would, and then they sell off. Yes. Right. So when you speak about due diligence through RSC, one of the required processes that people need to go through as NGOs? Yes. The NGO is now prior to advertising on the NGO forum, they should avail the original certificates that we have, because we have added some security features to our documents. Now, you know, we are working together with the Minister of Interior, we have been traveling to some of these identity conferences and biometric registration. So it has enabled us to understand the dynamics of working together and tracking such crimes. So that's what we are doing. And what we will do is to verify the documents. We have to verify the legitimacy of such organization, even the people behind them. We have to do the background checks, and we have to ensure that they are who they claim they are. Right. And we have to see who are their donors. Because if you look at our registration form, all this information is captured there. We ask them for the name of organization, the name of the founding members, the donors, if any, partnering organizations, and then the locations where they are operating, and the thematic areas, what activities or projects are implementing in the country. Yeah. So we have to look at this. Until when they are satisfied, then we will not recommend them to advertise on NGO forum website. Right. Yeah. That's fair enough. Dominic, thank you so much for making our time to speak to us. So what is the message to the public? Yes. The message to the public is, please don't take things for granted, especially people who are making business or doing business to earn a living in this difficult economic situation. Verify the source, always verify the source. Make sure that you contact the Relive and Rehabilitation Commission. Even if organizations look dollar, they are not dollar enough just to make you surrender your due diligence to them. If your company, when you are delivering your items, also produce a delivery note so that you get all the details of the person, even individuals to whom you are delivering your items. You cannot just take things for granted like that. Now they have, most of these companies have lost up to almost $500,000. So that's a lot of money that could have helped. And also we are also requesting our partners, the NGOs, to cooperate with the national NGOs in terms of capacity, building or even partnering to implement some projects. Because that is how we can build the capacity of the local NGOs and then empower them. You see some of these tenders also in the companies, NGOs mostly award them to international companies and we have problems there. That's why we need to improve on our laws. So it has to give chance to the local companies so that they can earn something. Right. Yes. We need to work together. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Mr. Dominic Michael. Oh yes. That brings us to ten minutes to the top of the hour. Good morning. This is where the nation's biggest conversations begin. Every morning and that has been Dominic Michael Genge, the registrar for NGOs at the RRC, which is the South Stone Relief and Rehabilitation Commission.