Thugs break into BT City Council’s treasury offices
Unidentified robbers have allegedly stolen three computers that have vital and delicate information on Blantyre City Council’s (BCC) income and expenditures.
The thieves also stole a number of already signed cheques which were waiting for dispatch to various companies and service providers.
The theft occurred on the night of Tuesday after the robbers broke into Treasury Department offices at the civic center and the three stolen computers are worth about K1 million.
BCC Public Relations Manager confirmed the case but refused to divulge more information saying the matter was still under investigations.
But Nyasa Times sources at the council said the incident has raised employees’ eye blows because of the manner in which it took place.
“They offices were systematically opened without the guards noticing. They removed three locks and a heavy chain which is fixed on the main entrance’s door. Thereafter, they opened the locked trellidors before opening the offices that had computers,” said the source.
The thieves left everything in the office such as printers untouched and only picked the computers and cheques.
During the night the civic center is watched over by 21 guards from CATS Security Services and all of them left for their places in the morning without noticing the offices had been broken into.
“The robbery was actually noticed by employees after they reported for work in the morning. We believe it was a calculated move aimed at destroying some vital information and not a real theft,” she explained.
Coincidentally, the incident occurred just a day before the expiry of the contract for CATS Security after providing security to the council for nine years.
Some employees, however, suspect BCC chief executive officer, Ted Nandolo and Director of Administration, Alfred Chanza are behind the robbery because they want to destroy information on the council’s income and expenditure.
The theft comes in the wake of serious financial mismanagement at the council which has seen the company resorting to selling its structures to rescue itself from the financial collapse.
It also comes barely three weeks after a team of consultants from the Office of President and Cabinet (OPC) faulted the council’s management of being inefficiency.
The consultants had come to assess the council on why BCC performance had suddenly nose-dived the last few years.
Some six months ago, BCC offices were also mysteriously broken into and two computers stolen after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) launched investigations on management for various offences including offering employment to relations and friends without following procedures.
The two computers were stolen from the human resource section and had all the information about members of staff.
Among the stolen cheques were for Toyota Malawi, CFAO, MASM insurance, security firms and external auditors which were to be released after the council got money in its accounts.
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