Opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Member of Parliament (MP) Vitus Dzoole Mwale has demanded that a report into the plunder of government resources dubbed Cashgate should be tabled in Parliament before the budget.
Minister of Finance, Ecoomic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe is this Friday expected to table a provisional budget for July to October, but it would not be accompanied by a financing statement for 2013/14 financial year until September when he will present a full budget.
In his contribution to the State of the Nation Address delivered by President Peter Mutharika last week Tuesday, Dzoole Mwale said when the report is presented, the Minister of Finance must account for how money was spent and utilised in the past year when K13 billion was siphoned from government through various means.
He said: “We on the MCP side recommend that the report on Cashgate should be number one then the budget. The Minister of Finance should also account for the money before another budget is approved.”
In response, Gondwe said forensic auditors from the United Kingdom, Baker Tilly, had met with officials from Ministry of Finance and had promised to come up with a fresh report by August.
The report, unlike the previous one submitted to the former parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), would contain names of individuals and companies who took part in Cashgate.
“Names which were concealed will be known and Parliament will discuss it. As the President said, there will be no sacred cows. All will be revealed and we won’t desist from discussing it,” Gondwe said.
The past PAC chaired by Beatrice Mwangonde prepared a report on Cashgate which included a preliminary report on fraud that took place in 2010 which found that K92 billion was lost through various means.
The reports were not tabled because the House failed to meet until it was dissolved on March 20, 2014.
Various commentators have expectations that the reports would be adopted by the current Parliament but PAC has not been instituted yet.