AG to give report to Parliament’s PAC today
The Auditor General is tomorrow expected to present to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament a forensic audit report which found that about K24 billion was siphoned through various means from government coffers within six months in 2013.
The report has been released to the public through the Ministry of Information, but some sections of society have doubted its authenticity after noting that some of the culprits they expected to have benefited from Cashgate, such as senior politicians in the former government, are nowhere to be found.
PAC chairperson Alekeni Menyani said in an interview yesterday that his committee would receive the report this Monday from the Auditor General Stephenson Kamphasa.
It is Kamphasa who is expected to clarify on whether the report has been released to the public in its entirety, according to National Audit Office (NAO) spokesperson Thomas Chafunya.
But Menyani has defended the exclusion from the report of appendices containing names of individuals and companies who benefited from proceeds of Cashgate.
The two appendices were conspicuously missing from the reports which the Minister of Information Kondwani Nankhumwa alongside Minister of Justice Samuel Tembenu released to the public on Thursday, prompting outcries that it had been tampered with.
“The Auditor General will present the reports as they were presented to him by Baker Tilly auditors. We are, however, aware that there are some names in there of people who didn’t take part in Cashgate, names of hotels and estate agents.
“These people are bitter that they were not involved, but their names are there and have threatened to sue auditors,” Menyani said.
Among those who have threatened legal action is son to former president Joyce Banda, Roy Kachale Banda who the report has linked to a suspect in Cashgate, Laura Savala, claiming they had a relationship.
Said Menyani: “We [the committee] want to handle the report carefully. There are those who benefitted from Cashgate in other ways, but we only want those who took part in Cashgate.”
Once the committee has the report, it is expected to debate and compile a report, which will be tabled in Parliament in January.
a chafunya kufufuma choncho kumapangako am exercise inu what a lazy guy. Ma PROs i don’t like them they always defend lies
Is PAC comprised of non partisan members of parliament? Or is this just another way of misinforming Malawians by the minister of misinformation and deceit? Whats there to hide if DPP cadres are not involved. please just release the goddamn report in its entirety unedited. Other wise be prepared to face vigilante justice by the concerned citizens of MLM.