Maravi

Nevers hasn't been cleared - Chifungula

Nevers hasn't been cleared - Chifungula
By Ernest Chanda and Kombe Chimpinde
Tue 13 Dec. 2011, 14:00 CAT

ANNA Chifungula has disputed Pastor Nevers Mumba's claim that the Auditor General's office issued an audit report in June this year that cleared him of any improprieties.

And Pastor Mumba yesterday appeared before a team of officers investigating him over alleged financial impropriety at the Zambian mission in Ottawa, Canada where he served as High Commissioner during the MMD regime.

Reacting to Dr Mumba's claim that President Michael Sata had instructed officers from the Auditor General's office to go and ‘sniff' something about him at his former office in Canada, Chifungula, who is Auditor General said her office had never released any audit report about the mission.

Chifungula, who refused to disclose the findings of the audit, until December 31, said it was wrong for Pastor Mumba to claim that he was cleared when there was no such report.

"Yes my officers did travel to Canada and they've just come back. So until they report back as to what transpired there and what they have found, I cannot comment. That would have been an inspection report which was written to the permanent secretary for him to provide answers to the issues that we had found there. So we cannot say at this juncture that anyone was cleared because we are not releasing those findings until the report is issued to Parliament. And the way I see it these are not even things to do with government accounts; it's extra activities that he was in," Chifungula said.

"My officers carried out a routine audit of that office, just the normal audits that we do. And that was actually in May when they carried out that audit. They came back and wrote an inspection report, bringing to the attention of the controlling officer; that is the permanent secretary at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then the PS at foreign affairs responded. So we have been engaging into correspondence, so we didn't issue any report in June."

Asked if it was right for Dr Mumba to say he would reject the outcome of the audit since he had already left Canada, Chifungula answered in the negative.

She said Dr Mumba was still in Canada when the auditors finished their work there.

"They can't reject the report, the auditors didn't go alone they went with other investigative wings and they are all looking at different things," she said.

"And he was there until Thursday when he left. And by then the auditors had finished and they were leaving Ottawa for another town, while he was travelling to Lusaka. So he was there throughout the time of the audit. He is entitled to his own opinion but the facts will be there as stated."

And Chifungula said President Sata did not order her office to carry out an audit at Zambia's High Commission in Canada.

This follows Dr Mumba's allegation that President Sata ordered auditors to audit his former office and find something faulty about him.

"You know very well that I don't work under the direction of anybody. So no one can order me to go and do something that I'm not convinced that it should be done; whether it's the President or anybody. I don't accept those orders because the Constitution protects me. That is probably some misconception on his part, maybe he doesn't know how we operate as an office," said Chifungula.

In an interview on Sunday, Dr Mumba said he would not accept audit findings since he was not in Canada.

He also accused President Sata of having instructed auditors to go and find some irregularities about him.

"They have disregarded the auditor general's report which was only done this year. How can they send another team to go and contradict what they themselves did five months ago, except that now they are under the directive of the President? And when they are in Ottawa they are under pressure to create something so that the President doesn't fire them," said Dr Mumba.

"So there will be no justice in whatever they will do there. And in any case, whatever they will find now, I'm not responsible because they told me to leave office early November."

And Dr Mumba yesterday appeared before a team of officers investigating the matter.

Dr Mumba who was accompanied by lawyers, Sunday Nkonde, Sakwiba Sikota, MMD and church symphathisers, appeared at the Police Force Headquarters at around 10:20hours in response to a police summon.

Dr Mumba was ushered into the conference room where his lawyers, party representatives as well as himself were asked to wait for the team to call them.

After a 20 minutes-wait, an unidentified officer and police spokesperson summoned his lawyers Nkonde and Sakwiba to a private room for a meeting that lasted only two minutes.

The two lawyers later called Dr Mumba to go back with them for official questioning.

When the trio later emerged after 30 minutes, they said the officers had told them that they had nothing to ask Dr Mumba.

In a short briefing held in the conference room Sikota told journalists that the state had informed them that it was not ready to interview their client.

"Am sure you know that a few weeks ago it started with the gold scam, then after that we had the fake kwacha, to complete the trilogy now we have the Ottawa connection. Today we have come here on the request of the State after there was a lot of publicity over the matter, I believe in one of the headlines it even said Nevers Mumba is in hot soup, there has been talk about dirty hands but toady when we have come here, we have been told by the police that they are not ready and that they are still looking at what charges to lay against our client," Sikota said.

He claimed that police were still looking as to what allegations to formulate against their client who is also an MMD presidential aspirant.

"We find it very inconveniencing ourselves because when you are calling somebody, it should be when you have done your investigations, when you have got something solid," he said.

Sikota said it was unfortunate for police to parade his client before the press when it had no allegations against him.

"Clearly we on a fishing expedition," Sikota said.

But Police spokesperson Elizabeth Kanjela stated that it had questions for Dr Mumba and that it had rescheduled the interview to a day which was yet to be confirmed.

Kanjela however warned of stern action against carrying along of cadres who had remained outside the gate chanting MMD slogans.

"These are not political matters, so there is no need for them to come with cadres," said Kanjela.

Labels: ANNA CHIFUNGULA, CORRUPTION, COURTS, NEVERS MUMBA

posted by MrK @ 2:40 PM