NIA Workers Allegedly Targeted by Life Insurance Scam

October 31 - The Mail and Guardian online publication has reported that South Africa's National Intelligence Agency made a formal complaint to the Financial Services Board (FSB) regarding a questionable life insurance scheme that was sold to a number of the group's workers.

While no other details about the case have been officially published, rumours are rife that a dodgy broker sold Momentum life insurance schemes to the workers. Some say that that broker then skipped the country with the money, while others say that the case has been under investigation for some time now and that the broker in question is still very much in the country. "There is no issue of brokers running away," the Mail and Guardian quoted one senior National Intelligence Agency worker as saying.

According to the reports, NIA workers were offered two types of life insurance coverage through Momentum - pure life insurance, or life insurance with an investment option. The scam involved the broker making contributions to the investment fund but withholding payment to the life insurance policies.

To add insult to injury, some of the documentation in the case has gone 'missing', making it extremely difficult to prove which payments were made, and which were not.

The spokesperson for the National Intelligence Agency, Lorna Daniels would not comment further on the case, besides to confirm that an official complaint had been made to the FSB. "We do not wish to prejudice any party and therefore have no further comment," was all she would say.

Momentum Insurance would also not comment, and said it would only do so once it got the green light from the National Intelligence Agency.