By Merlyn Mwanza
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director general Gilbert Phiri has agreed with a caller who suggested that instead of employing more soldiers, priority should be channeled towards employing more people in the anti-corruption drive.
And Phiri said the constitution must be amended to ensure that former presidents who engage in financial crimes are both investigated and prosecuted without having first to remove their immunity.
Phiri also said he is interested in finding out what will come out from the audits of security wings, if for instance there was delivery of good by those contracted, saying if there was anything wrong in awarding the private audit firms to do the work, the Auditor General’s office will report that to the relevant authorities.
Featuring on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk this morning, one of the callers to the programme who saw no urgency in the recent advertisement for the recruitment of personnel in the defence forces, suggested that effort should instead be channeled towards recruiting more people in the fight against corruption. The caller also suggested that the ACC should motivate people to report corruption cases, as well as the commission having a presence in police structures to compensate for a lack of ACC presence in several places across the country.
Responding to the observations, Phiri said he agreed with the caller on every point.
He also said that huge sums of money were being handled across the country in form of K26 million in the over 150 constituencies, yet the ACC did not have a presence everywhere.
And Phiri said he has a problem with the issue of immunity for presidents, especially when it involves financial crimes, saying a president, just like other elected politicians, was a servant of the people elected to appropriate resources, and therefore there should be no encumbrances when it came to arresting them if they commit crimes.
“When it comes to financial crime we need to amend the law that a former president who has engaged in financial crime can be investigated and prosecuted,” he said.
Asked on reports that there was a permanent secretary who is giving out illegal loans, Phiri said if such a thing was happening, the matter must be reported to the ACC and the commission will act in the event of any illegality. He said there was no way he could fail to act against any government official as he has taken on a sitting president and sitting Chief justice before.
He said those at ACC were not prophets to predict every time where corruption was happening urging people to report corruption cases to the investigative wings.
Asked on the focus by the commission towards arresting former leaders as opposed to those who are currently serving, Phiri said the commission did not stand on an anthill to announce leaders they were investigating.
“It’s just a matter of time I am sure you will hear something,” he said.
On the public outcry towards the contraction of private firms, including two firms linked to President Hakainde Hichilema, Grant Thornton and PriceWaterhouse, to audit security wings, Phiri said the decision on the contraction of firms lies with the Auditor General and the same office would report if there was anything untoward in the contraction of the firms, but that he was looking forward to what will emerge from the audits.
“We are interested in finding out what will come out of that audit. If for instance you were paid to supply rice and you never did,” said Phiri
He further said that he wanted a quick turn-around in terms of people appearing before court when they were arrested and would work with the investigative wings to achieve that once his appointment as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) were ratified by parliament
