JGL Forensic Services - Where Integrity and Business Meet

The Difference Between Ethics and Integrity

It shouldn’t be a grey area, but is.
It shouldn’t be something we need to write about, but it is.
What it should be is something we all have ingrained into our psyche. Something that’s instinctive, and which governs our behaviour without question.
But it isn’t.
 

South Africa’s Lost Billions – Imagine What Could Have Been Done With The Money…

What could have been done with the hundreds of billions of Rands that have been lost in in South Africa over the past few years in “fruitless and wasteful expenditure?”
From payments for mammogram services to a hospital that does not even have a mammogram machine to payouts to dead people, the list of financial farces that litter our government departments seems endless.
Not to mention the money sacrificed to blatant corruption.
 

How The Mighty Have Fallen - Greed, Need and the Catastrophic Collapse of MTI

Having been involved in the extensive investigation into the recent financial collapse of Mirror Trading International (MTI) on behalf of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), I find myself asking one very puzzling question:
Why do people fall for these scams in the first place?
There are hundreds of articles online and in the media cautioning people about MTI and the dangers of pyramid schemes.
Yet, still people fall for scams. 

Will Cryptocurrencies Ever Be Something You Can Bank On?

What do rich guys talk about when they get together for a chat?
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once asked Warren Buffet, America’s most prolific and successful investor, this question:
“You’re one of the richest guys in the world, and your investment thesis is so simple – why doesn’t everyone just copy you?”
To which Buffet replied, “Because no one wants to get rich slow.”
 
 

Is The Political Party Funding Act Some Kind of April Fool’s Joke

The Political Party Funding Act comes into effect on 1 April 2021. It will supposedly regulate the public and private funding of political parties.
The presidency says the act “will have far-reaching consequences for good governance and ethical political activity.
What is the point of bringing in new laws - no matter how well-intentioned - if government officials see no reason to abide by the laws we already have.
 

Tying the Tourniquet: Can We Stop The South African Health Sector Bleeding to Death

Corruption in the healthcare sector in South Africa is not new.
Between 2009 and 2012/13, just over R8 billion in health expenditure by the combined provincial departments was classified as unauthorised, while R24 billion was deemed “irregular.”
In 2017/18, health departments accounted for 57% of unpaid bills by government.
 
 

The Best Government Money Can Buy: How Corrupt SEO Bailouts are Bankrupting Our Country

On December 8, 2020, business, labour and government signed an agreement stating that money from the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) would be used to fund yet another bailout for Eskom.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s Shadow Minister of Finance called the deal a betrayal of workers and the public.
Which is pretty much what can be said for every single bailout the government has ever given to our limping State Owned Enterprises in the past few years.

Are Your Employees Putting Your Company At Risk?

They say that people are an organisation’s greatest asset. That, although salaries usually account for any company’s biggest expense, good employees don’t actually represent a cost, but rather a intelligent investment that ultimately offers a great return.
And it’s true that employees who perform well undoubtedly help your company perform well too. Your staff are at the heart of what makes your business tick, and multiple studies show that when employees feel valued and recognised, they are more engaged and productive. Productivity equals profits, so everybody wins.
 
Except when they don’t.
What happens when your employees, instead of contributing to your organisation’s success, are actually putting it at risk? 

Whistleblowing - Counting The Cost of Courage

South Africa’s reputation as an ethically dodgy and pervasively corrupt country is sadly becoming as much a part of our identity as our magnificent scenery, wonderful game parks and colourful people. And, as so often happens when something becomes this common place, we become desensitised to it. Our sense of disgust and moral outrage lessens with every story of corruption that emerges. We develop a shoulder-shrugging, “well, what do you expect?” attitude that makes even just the thought of ever eradicating corrupt practices from both our private and public sectors a seemingly unattainable pipe dream.
 

Deepfakes - When Seeing Is No Longer Believing

We’ve probably all seen those amusing posts on Facebook. The ones where videos of Barack Obama or Donald Trump have been cleverly doctored so it looks as though they’re singing a rap song. They make us laugh, no one gets hurt and it’s all good, harmless fun.
The same process is also used (albeit at a much more complicated and professional level) in live action, animated movies, such as the recent remake of Disney’s The Lion King. But there is a dark side to the rise of this seemingly innocent, deep-learning technology, and it’s spawned a growing concern about the potential for abuse.