MPs demand report on K236bn Cashgate

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has demanded a comprehensive report from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on the progress the bureau has made in investigating the K236 billion Cashgate.

PAC chairperson Alekeni Menyani in an interview yesterday said members of Parliament (MPs) are frustrated with the slow progress in investigating and prosecuting the Cashgate cases, which a forensic audit established happened between 2009 and December 2014.

He said: “As Public Accounts Committee, we are very frustrated with the progress on the K236 billion scam. The initial 13 files had four companies trimmed, which means nine were still on the list and we agreed on updates which ACB is not doing till now.”

ACB director general Lucas Kondowe refused to comment when The Nation sought his views yesterday.

He said: “I don’t have any comment to make. That’s all I can tell you.”

But Menyani disclosed that his committee is also demanding answers from the graft-busting body on events leading to the alleged clearance of some companies of wrongdoing.

In its report titled Reconstruction of Cashbook, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) named several companies, including some owned by Malawians of Asian origin, as being at the heart of Cashgate whose cases are failing to take shape.

One of the companies is being accused of defrauding government close to K20 billion through bogus purchases of motor vehicles.

Menyani also accused ACB of backtracking on its promise to periodically update the committee on the inroads it is making in investigating and prosecuting the case.

In February 2016, the committee also made a similar complaint. It expressed concern with the snail’s pace the case is taking before conclusion. n