A former KPMG employee was exposed for allegedly scamming disadvantaged students in his position at the audit firm

Fidelis Moema is accused of misusing funds as a KPMG bursary specialist and the allegations were a trending topic

KPMG’s history with corruption linked to VBS and the Gupta family was a topic of discussion as South Africans zoned in on Fidelis Moema’s alleged schemes

Why was KPMG bursary specialist arrested?

Fidelis Moema was employed as a bursary specialist and he recently handed himsel over to SAPS after accusations that he stole millions pledged for students, as reported by the South African Government News Agency. The KPMG employee is officially charged with the three crimes: theft, fraud and money laundering.

SAPS stated that over two years (2021-2022) he paid bursary money meant for students into his friends’ and companies’ bank accounts for him to recover later. Moema’s fraud cost KPMG a total R16.5 million and recently, his formal bail hearing was postponed to 9 April 2024 after he surrendered to Hawks on 02 April 2023.

SA remembers KPMG’s past scandals

Fidelis Moema trended on X as people gave their takes on the scandal. South Africans referenced the audit firm’s history of corruption when discussing the bursary specialist. In 2017, KPMG was accused of signing off on fraud worth R2 billion from VBS Bank according Daily Maverick. The audit firm was also connected to the Gupta family’s business enmities which they audited for 15 years before they were accused of corruption.

KPMG was also the internal auditor for Tongaat-Hulett which went under business rescue. Internationally, KPMG was fined R5 million ($275 000) by the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and other partners for breaking accounting rules linked to using unregistered accounting firms and for management failures.

While the latest KPMPG corruption scandal is of an employee stealing from the corporation, people couldn’t separate the bursary specialist from KPMG. Read people’s commentary:

@Vanessakay_m was amazed:

“He stole R16M from KPMG? A company that specializes in auditing? Yoh!”

@jesuispattieb wondered:

“KPMG again?”