54 more files in K236 billion query
As Malawians continue to seek answers on the K236 billion audit query, The Daily Times has been reliably informed that the office of the Auditor General (AG) has submitted 54 more case files to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for investigation.
This brings the total number of case files in the saga to 67 as, initially, the ACB had received 13 files, five of which have been cleared.
In 2015, a financial analysis report by an audit firm established that about K577 billion of public funds could not be reconciled between 2009 and 2014. The figure was later revised downwards to K236 billion in another forensic audit.
In an interview yesterday, ACB Director-General, Reyneck Matemba, confirmed receipt of the additional 54 case files and went further to admit that the new development means the bureau has more work to do on the matter.
“We received the first list of 24 case files on February 21. On February 26, we received 30 more files. They came with recommendations for further investigation or simply verification,” Matemba said.
He then appealed to Malawians to be patient with the bureau as it probes the cases, saying, sometimes, one file can take up to months before it is concluded.
Matemba also disclosed that the ACB is working on four of the initial 13 files and would be concluding everything on them in a few months.
“We know that expectations are very high but we will endeavour to do our work diligently and professionally. People should continue exercising patience because the bureau has a lot more work to do. On a daily basis, we receive complaints on corruption which we have to investigate,” he said.
The ACB boss, on the other hand, indicated that it would be premature to say who is implicated in the latest case files.
“Our investigators will have to go through them and take up the task of verifying whether goods were delivered. Otherwise, it would be premature to say who is being mentioned in the files,” he said.
Officials have also kept a tight lid on those implicated in the initial 13 files even though Public Accounts Committee of Parliament’s (Pac) Vice- Chairperson, Kamlepo Kalua, repeatedly claimed he knew names of seven Cabinet ministers who are in the files.
At the launch of the National Security Policy in Lilongwe on Tuesday, President Peter Mutharika called on the ACB and Pac to get to the bottom of the audit query.
On several occasions, Mutharika had rubbished claims that some of his Cabinet ministers were implicated in the audit query and challenged those making the claims to bring forth supporting evidence.
On Tuesday, he said he would not shield anyone implicated in the theft of public funds and went further to state that the investigations on corrupt acts would not be done to please anyone.
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