PAC delays to release Cashgate names until Speaker returns from foreign trip

Parliament through the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said it will wait for  the Speaker Richard Msowoya to  return from foreign  trip  before releasing names of individuals and businesses identified in the recent forensic audit that established that about K236 billion in public funds could not be reconciliated between 2009 and December 31 2014.

The audit was conducted by British firm RSM Risk Insurance LLP.

Auditor General’s office said they could not release the names of people and companies allegedly involved in the scandal to avoid jeopardizing the ongoing investigations.

PAC chairperson Alekeni Menyani said his committee was expected to release the names on Tuesday but postponed due to the abscence of the Speaker.

He said they will wait for the Speaker’s return to release the names.

Menayni said the committee was still determined to release the names of those named in the report.

“The committee has an obligation to inform the general public on who is suspected to have Cashgated,” said Menyani.

According to the report, the audit found that K83.5 billion of the K236 billion which could not be accounted for was paid to 44 companies from the sample of 50 that the auditors selected to analyse.

The audit also found that billions were lost in overpayment of goods and services, duplicate payments and overpayment on shipping to wrong locations.

Initially, the amount suspected to have not been accounted for was pegged at K577 billion, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) data analysis released in May 2015.

However, the forensic audit established, through its testing of the system and controls, that the unreconciled funds could be in the region of K236 billion.