K92bn audit report tabled to Malawi Parliament: DPP leaders implicated
The Malawi government has released an audit report into the plunder of government resources amounting to amounting to K92 billion ((US$226 044 226)) which occurred during the former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) regime.
The audit reveals that DPP presided over the loss or mismanagement of over K92 billion through the Integrated Financial Management and Information System (Ifmis) abuse between 2009 and 2012,
“There will be many cases that will be brought on opposition leaders especially those from the DPP in relation to the K92 billion lost,” said our source.
A top DPP official confirmed the party has been tipped off by some senior government officials that there are looming arrests involving its leadership in the cash leak scandal.
Nyasa Times understands that an investigative audit report of the Ifmis that the National Audit Office (NAO) carried out between November 2011 and the first half of 2012, was kept under wraps.
President Joyce Banda said recently an audit revealed that apart from the K13 billion cashgate scandal under her watch, the country should also know what happened to the billions abused in 2010 under the DPP.
The report also details how the money was allegedly lost or mismanaged through seven irregularities involving specific financial transactions.
Banda said the National Assembly should discuss the K13 billion cashgate audit and the K91 billion audit concurrently.
And Auditor General Stephenson Kamphasa on Thursday tabled the report to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.
The Ministry of Finance—through then budget director Dr Dalitso Kabambe—commissioned the audit after suspecting fraud in the central payment system (Ifmis), according to the background note in the report.
The report found that payments amounting to K12 billion were made outside Ifmis.
The probe coincided with the discovery in late 2011 of K400 million (US$982800.98) in a bank account belonging to a civil servant working for the Accountant General’s Department (AGD)
However, the DPP administration systematically discontinued the exercise before 14 more government departments/ministries were probed, suggesting that the plundered K92 billion could be small change compared to what may be the loss if the agencies that escaped the probe were factored in.
But DPP members in PAC, George Chaponda and Henry Mussa , who both served as ministers during the period under scrutiny,claimed the report was not credible as the information contained has not been verified.
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