By Chinoyi Chipulu
The Community Action Against Corruption (CAAC) has challenged the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to clarify whether the 2023 and 2024 Financial Intelligence Centre-(FIC) reports remain under active investigations or have been quietly closed.
And CAAC chief executive officer Brightone Tembo has called for an update on the status of several high-profile investigations announced last year, among them allegations of misconduct by cabinet ministers, the Ministry of Finance’s allowances scandal, kickbacks involving a Kenyan company in the Ministry of Defence and irregularities in the Ministry of Energy’s fuel procurement, among others.
In a statement, Tembo expressed concern over the two-year delay without public updates, noting that reports were formally forwarded to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) for further action.
He stated that the accountability demanded in these cases should not be hampered by perceived institutional weaknesses. He warned that the continued silence and a lack of transparency risked undermining public confidence in the ACC’s ability to pursue corruption cases.
“As an organisation involved in corruption fight, we are now concerned about the status of the two reports because two years are enough time, for the Commission to fail to update Zambians on the status of the two reports,” he stated.
Tembo stated that the FIC openly stated that the reports were disseminated to LEAs for further Investigations.
“But to our surprise, the silence from ACC over the two reports in the past two years is surprising and shocking,” he stated.
Tembo demanded that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Ministry of Health should explain to Zambians the reasons for not terminating the contract for the supply of 156 CDF ambulances, when the supplier failed to deliver them within the contractual timeframe of December 2024.
Tembo stated that the current ACC had exhibited a lot of weaknesses and compromise.
