ACC DOCKETS ON MOF THEFT READY
…investigations concluded over 9 months ago – sources
By Ernest Chanda
THE Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) thoroughly investigated the Ministry of Finance saga and concluded last year, according to new information.
Meanwhile, finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane says “the matter is now in the hands of law enforcement agencies. They are now free to move anywhere without fear that maybe some senior official…there are no restrictions”.
Last week, ACC public relations manager Timothy Moono said investigations into suspected abuse of public funds at the Ministry of Finance could take a bit longer, depending on the complexity of the matter.
On Tuesday last week, the ACC interviewed several senior staff at the ministry who were later suspended while some directors and principal auditors were transferred to the Public Service Management Division at Cabinet Office.
Asked when arrests would be effected now that warn and caution statements have been recorded, Moono said the situation depended on the complexity of the matter.
“The position is still the same, we are investigating. The nature of investigations depends on the complexity of the matter. To give timelines it doesn’t work for us,” he said.
Asked if the matter is complicated, Moono responded: “No, no, no, we are investigating. I can’t tell when it’s going to finish. If it’s going to be straightforward it means that within a short time it will be done. If it will prove that there’s a lot more to be done, it will take a little bit longer. We are investigating allegations of suspected abuse of public funds, that’s criminal.”
But sources have told The Mast that it is not true that the ACC is investigating because what remained was to take the matter to court.
“No, no, no, what Mr Moono is saying is not true. This matter was investigated thoroughly and concluded over nine months ago. Dockets were prepared for all the people that were investigated and the only thing remaining was to take them to court,” a source close to the investigation said.
Another said it was State House which intervened at the time as the government was “fighting” for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package.
“Dockets have been ready all along. It’s just that State House was asking ACC to hold on with arrests until after the October 2022 IMF negotiations were concluded. According to State House then, MoF staff were critical in negotiations on the IMF deal. So the IMF would not have given Zambia the money if these arrests were effected before these negotiations,” explained the source. “In short, State House was not blocking these arrests. They simply asked that these arrests be halted until the IMF deal had been clinched. That is the reality on the ground, not what the ACC told you recently that investigations are not yet over. There is nothing more to investigate. Let them just take the dockets to court so that these people start appearing. ACC already have these dockets on their tables.”
On August 24, 2022, The Mast published a story where a Transparency International – Zambia investigation revealed that a cartel at Ministry of Finance (MoF) siphoned money amounting to K100 million between 2019 and 2021 using fictitious events to draw allowances.
The newspaper followed up with another story published on January 7, 2022 in which new information emerged which revealed that about K533 million was looted from the Ministry of Finance and not K100 million as earlier reported by the same newspaper.
Corroborated evidence and information from whistleblowers within the ministry showed various names of officers in the Ministry of Finance.
At the time, names were withheld of people who had seemingly engaged in an intricate network of fictitious and organised activities.
According to the evidence, this loot seemed to be spreading tentacles to strategic ministries, commissions, and agencies.
And according to sources close to the investigation, MoF senior staff that included then secretary to the treasury Fredson Yamba, Accountant General Kennedy Musonda, controller of internal audit Chibwe Mulonda and assistant director internal audit David Kajokoto seemingly engaged in money laundering.
After The Mast published these names, Yamba, Musonda and Mulonda wrote demand letters through their lawyers, asking for retraction, apology and monetary compensation.
Yamba has gone further by suing The Mast in the Lusaka High Court over the same story.
And in the latest action by Cabinet Office Musonda, Mulonda, and Kajokoto have been sent on leave to pave way for further investigations.
At the time, the sources explained that once funds were obtained from MoF’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) loans and investments – a special account that is dedicated to the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ’s) repayment of loans including the Eurobond and financing of investments, the funds were transferred to the respective individuals’ bank accounts through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system.
Once this money was pulled into these peoples’ accounts it was then laundered into BoZ treasury bills through deposit accounts in order to conceal its nature and origin.
Another investigation revealed that in fact more than K1 billion was stolen from the national treasury in the last four years.
Sources said the K500 million the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) compiled was just a drop in the ocean and only related to a few individuals.
The sources said even the recoveries the ministry later instituted were just a cover up to hoodwink the public.
Another source at the ministry wondered why the ACC could not act at the time because there was still overwhelming evidence of financial misuse.
“When the ACC moved in last year we thought they would quickly effect some arrests. But we were disappointed that the matter seemed to have died until you people started writing about it,” said the source. “We expected the then DG (director general) at the ACC Mr Gilbert Phiri to quicken the process of investigations and make arrests, but that did not happen. In fact, these suspensions should have happened then at the recommendation of the ACC.”
Meanwhile, Dr Musokotwane, during a briefing yesterday, said the audit in the ministry regarding “the measures that have been taken…please remember in the first place that these allowances and payments were done when the PF were in office”.
“Now the mere fact that nothing was done is indicative of the processes those days, financial abuse, what attracts serious attention…That cannot be the way of managing financial resources. If there are questionable transactions, those must be followed and if there are issues to do with indiscipline and everything else, let the law run its course,” said Dr Musokotwane. “So they ignored this. We’ve chosen not to ignore this. We’ve chosen to deal with it. You were asking the question why just transfer? Because the investigations have not been concluded. I think you have heard the President say this over and over that he does not want, we all do not want, anyone arrested and taken to court or arrested and left hanging for years, no. By the time the arrest will be made evidence must be conclusive so that you can take to court and not drag things. The matter is now in the hands of the law enforcement agencies. They are now free to move anywhere without fear that maybe some senior official…there are no restrictions. At the end of it all, the law will determine the course of action to be taken whether in fact it was not serious enough, adequate administrative measures are taken. Whether the thing was serious enough to warrant arrests, prosecution, they will tell us. But they are at liberty to proceed as they deem fit. The whole idea was not to rush to punish people until… its conclusive…”