By Patson Chilemba
Western donors have queried the UPND administration and the Anti-Corruption Commission about information that the K65 million forfeited from Faith Musonda was misappropriated by the commission.
Well placed sources in the UPND administration and the investigative wings have told Daily Revelation that the allegations of misappropriation sent shockwaves with the UPND administration and at the commission and, upon which frantic arrangements were quickly put in place to respond to assertions in order to preserve the institution’s standing, in the absence of the commission’s director general Shamakamba who is currently away in Ireland while the secretary of the commission is in South Africa.
“So if ACC let this thing slide for one day and had not acted there will be no ACC to talk about hence the drive to quickly get ACC board director Musa Mwenye to talk. Otherwise the reputation would have been so damaged,” sources said. “Because even the donors started asking about what was happening as the guys are being accused to have chewed K65 million. They started asking if it was true the ACC had chewed K65 million as they were quiet when the allegations initially surfaced. The donors got really concerned with the false allegations. Obviously it’s western donors.”
The sources said that the commission in arguing their case to the donors told them that the whole audit report was about retribution.
“How do you explain the fact that the whole office of the Auditor General saying that the money was misapplied and fraudulently when the Auditor General was there at the handover? He was one of the officers there. We did the transfer, the trail is there through control 99. Everything is there. How can we surely go to an event to arrange to say that we can call the whole minister of Finance, give him a dummy check and then go back and get the money?” one of the sources asked.
The insiders said the officers from the Auditor General’s office have not hidden from the investigators at ACC telling them that “you guys are very unkind” for launching investigations against heads in the Auditor General’s office.
“The current Auditor General, you know he wasn’t removed? He went on leave himself to facilitate this thing,” sources said.
The sources said the attacks on ACC were coming from the Auditor General’s office.
“The preparation of the report and the leaking of an unedited report was in fact an attack and you can even include that officers at the Auditor General’s office have threatened the ACC officers that they will fix them for what they did. That is the complaint that is flying around in the investigative circles,” sources said. “Just think of this after the arrest of the two deputies they wrote to us to say ‘we also want to audit you.’ Do you see the trail? On the 1st of March 2023, ACC arrested one officer, the deputy Auditor General, on the 2nd of March ACC arrested another deputy. Then on the 3rd of March they sent the request for the audit. This audit you are seeing was started after the ACC arrested them. So it’s retaliation.”
Sources said there are people who are still loyal to their bosses at the AG’s office and are pushing the attacks on ACC.
“Therefore junior officers were sent to ACC to demand specific information about the commission’s books,” said sources, and that when officers at ACC inquired on why the officers from AG’S office were proceeding on that route, the response was that “you people are unkind.”
