ACB for responsible reporting of cases
Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has called on the media to exercise caution when reporting on cases the bureau is investigating.
Speaking in Balaka on Friday when the bureau met journalists from the Eastern Region to orient them on its operations, mandate and functions, ACB senior public relations officer Egritta Ndala said when wrongly reported, cases under investigation may alert the suspect and accomplices.
She said: “Restraint needs to be exercised because careless reporting jeopardises ACB investigations. The culprit may follow how the investigations are going and be ahead of us.”
Ndala said ACB principally deals with corruption but only focuses on fraud when in the course of investigating corruption they stumble upon it.
“There is a thin line between fraud and corruption. However, fraud is the mandate of the Fiscal Police. The only time the law allows us to deal with fraud is when we uncover it when probing corruption,” Ndala said.
Bartholomew Boaz, a Montfort Media reporter, said the meeting was important for journalists to understand what the ACB is about. He said: “The media needs to be updated on the challenges and successes the bureau is facing for them to appreciate the need to advocate for more funding or change of legislation governing its operations.”
