The Hawks arrested nine fraudsters who gained access to a government-approved supplier database and placed illicit orders with the companies on the list.
Hawks spokesperson Hangwani Mulaudzi says 104 cases of defrauded government supplier companies have been reported.
Mulaudzi says the monetary value of the fraudulent transactions is unavailable; however, more cases are expected to be reported in the next few months.
"We believe this is the not the only syndicate that is doing this; we believe there are many others out there."
Investigations are still ongoing, he says. "We will be closing in on many others in the coming months."
The suspects appeared in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court yesterday, on charges of fraud and theft.
Consolidated database
Meanwhile, earlier this week, National Treasury introduced a Central Supplier Database (CSD) to address supplier duplication and corruption, as well as fraudulent orders.
Government currently has supplier information for all the different government departments, municipalities and public entities in 600 databases.
According to treasury, the CSD aims to be a consolidated source of all supplier information for all organs of state.
Finance minister Nhlanhla Nene said: "Modernising supply chain management through technological innovation will enable government to reduce the administrative burden and improve the monitoring of procurement patterns, contracts and prices."
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