Maravi

326 civil servants ‘stole’ K36bn.

326 civil servants ‘stole’ K36bn.
By ANGELA CHISHIMBA

A TOTAL of 326 public service workers are alleged to have been involved in the misappropriation of K36 billion of State funds over four years, Government has revealed. “Out of the 326 workers, 62 have been suspended and arrested, 195 surcharged and reprimanded, 21 surcharged and retired, 15 were under investigations, seven under investigations and suspended, 13 dismissed, seven surcharged and six surcharged and demoted,” said Minister of Finance and National Planning, Ng'andu Magande, yesterday when he presented a ministerial statement to Parliament.

Mr Magande explained that K35, 675,745,936 was allegedly stolen through fraudulent activities while K417, 264,144 was through irregular payment of housing allowance in the Ministry of Education. He said the workers are from various ministries and the period of the alleged theft was from 2003 to 2007. “For the cases under the Ministry of Education, which constitute the majority of the 195 who were surcharged and reprimanded, it was discovered that many teachers were being coerced to share money meant for housing allowance,” Mr Magande said.

He explained that the money could have been surplus due to either a teacher having died or transferred to another school. “In other words, teachers were sharing balances of any money left over after paying those who genuinely deserved the housing allowance,” he said. Mr Magande said it was felt that the appropriate punishment should be to reprimand and surcharge the culprits so that the money could be reimbursed. “The habit of sharing left over public funds at the paying points seems to be rampant in many ministries.

Even salaries of deceased officers are shared and not surrendered back to the Ministry of Finance and National Planning. We are following up these cases and apart from sealing the loopholes, those involved will be charged and surcharged,” he said. Mr Magande said his ministry had a list of the names of the officers and amounts involved in all the cases.

He however said in the interest of justice and taking into account parliamentary practice and procedures, he was unable to provide the House with the list of those involved. “I wish to assure the House that we will continue to strictly monitor the use of public funds and take stern action against those abusing their offices of trust,” the minister said. Mr Magande’s statement followed a point of order by Lusaka Central member of Parliament, Dr Guy Scott (PF), who wanted Government to clarify the alleged theft of K3 trillion when President Mwanawasa had earlier announced while in Mpulungu.

In his ruling, Speaker of the National Assembly, Amusaa Mwanamwambwa, directed Mr Magande to clarify the matter. “It has now been confirmed that the figure of K3 trillion was as a result of an error in calculation. The correct figure of the amount of money alleged to have been misappropriated by some civil servants is K35, 675,745,936,” Mr Magande said.

On his part, President Mwanawasa issued a statement last Saturday on the matter and apologised for the wrong figure given earlier. And the minister said Government has confiscated properties and asserts belonging to those involved in the theft. “In cases where we have found that those involved have acquired property, we have confiscated. And this is being dealt with by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) because it is money laundering,” he said.

This was in response to Katombola MP, Regina Musokotwane (UPND), who wanted to know whether Government would confiscate those properties and sell them to recover the money. Mr Magande also said no action would be taken against the officer who misinformed President Mwanawasa. This was in response to Mpika Central MP Mwansa Kapeya (PF), who wanted to know what type of action would be taken against the officer who misled the President.

Labels: CORRUPTION, MAGANDE

posted by MrK @ 1:04 AM