Thursday, March 28, 2024

18 High-Ranking Officials Arrested in MOF Scandal for Alleged Theft of Public Funds

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The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has arrested eighteen individuals in connection with a financial scandal at the Ministry of Finance (MOF). The investigation centers on payments made for fictitious activities and the alleged theft of public funds.

According to Timothy Moono, Head of Corporate Communications for the ACC, “the Commission wishes to clarify that some individuals have voluntarily offered to pay back the funds they illegally received. This is provided for under Section 80 of the Anti-Corruption Act No. 3 of 2012.” Moono added, “The Commission is not targeting any particular individual at the MOF. The investigations are purely professional and based on information about alleged abuse of office and theft of public funds perpetrated by named individuals.”

The arrest of high-ranking officials, including the Auditor-General, Dr. Dick Sichembe, and Former Secretary to the Treasury, Fredson Yamba, has sent shockwaves throughout the country. Kennedy Musonda, the Accountant General, was also arrested in connection with the scandal.

The ACC has urged the public to remain calm and trust in the impartiality of the investigation. In a statement, the Commission said, “We would like to reassure the public that the Commission is conducting its investigations in a fair and impartial manner, and we will not be deterred in our efforts to fight corruption.”

The investigation into the MOF scandal is ongoing, and more details are expected to emerge as the case progresses. The ACC has urged anyone with information about this or any other corruption case to come forward and report it.

The government has stated its commitment to fighting corruption and ensuring that public funds are used for their intended purpose. President Hakainde Hichilema, who was elected in August 2021, has made it a priority to tackle corruption in Zambia. In a recent speech, he said, “We will not tolerate corruption in any form. Those who engage in corrupt practices will face the full force of the law.”

19 COMMENTS

  1. I will not be surprised if we have similar issues at the BOZ with regard to the USD exchange rate. I smell something very fishy there. Insider dealing is occuring there as concerns information on the exchange rate. These guys are all crooks and this is why in Zambia we have so much bureaucracy and red tape. All these people want to slow the system and creat bottle necks so that they alone benefit themselves at the cost of everyone, very short sightedness.

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    • The whole system is flawed even when fuel increments are about to be announced by ERB, this is leaked and retailers stop selling fuel to cash in on mark up of the old stock.
      Anyway we told you during PF era when you were a proponent of that system.

  2. “the Commission wishes to clarify that some individuals have voluntarily offered to pay back the funds they illegally received…”
    What is the point of this statement…if I knowingly recieve funds that is proceeds of crime it should be up to ACC to confiscate assets whether the individuals offered to pay back and this should not reduce their sentences . ACC is too incompetent to arrest these high ranking officals I can see deals already being cut in the background.

    • This is not true. The country was put on a path of recovery by Levi Mwanawassa and Ng’andu Magande, and as soon as they came into power, these ones did what they always do, and looted the country back into poverty. The suffering of Zambia has been exacerbated by the US $31 billion these criminals borrowed from everywhere in a mere 10 years, and then looted among themselves. The poverty did not cause the looting; the looting caused the poverty. Some of us come from places where stealing is unthinkable, and that is why we can see things such as this clearly

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    • HH does not come from a stealing culture. Michael Satan investigated him left, right and center; the even more evil and corrupt Edgar Jonathan Mutawire Chagwa-agwa Chakolwa Lungu, investigated him even more, and upon finding nothing, he accused HH of things he did not do, including treason. HH was born in a village not too far from where I went to secondary school. I know the values of the people there. They are self-reliance, decency, industry, resourcefulness, honesty and hard-work. There is a reason we have fed Zambia for 60 years. You, Kalya-Nyoko Kaizar Zulu, owe most your bodily weight to maize and meat produced by the kind of farmers HH was born to and raised by.

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  3. We are almost two and half years in and no one has been convicted and you can not have all these high ranking civil servants dipping their hands in th cookie jar without a minister or politican in sight….HH needs to give ACC access to his ministers. This is why I say these cases we not go anywhere as all these guys have to do is drop names of ministers involved and these cases will disappear like a fart in the wind.

    • HH came into power in August 2021. How is this already 2 and half years of his presidency? The reason why these kalya-nyokos have not been jailed is that a) all the judges in office were appointed by them and these judges know that if they jail them, then the kalya-nyokos may spill the beans on the judges themselves. 2) Zambia has double jeopardy laws, if you fail to convict on the first prosecution, the kalya-nyoko is free of that charge forever. 3) Lastly, their DPP, Siluyuni, protected them from prosecution. Now that she was fired and HH has created a financial crimes court, watch them join Mumbi Phiri as beneficiaries of free government accommodation in various places around the country

    • Magoye Superstar – Pipe down if you are taking half baked evidence in court you expect a Judge to impose hefty sentences regardless? Just look at what this ACC chap is going on about some individuals willing to pay back as if he is the Judge already he is soiling the case even before its sent to a court.

  4. Such a horde of corruption accused lot can only be perpetrated by Pee_eeF. The You Pee En Dee are never corrupt and as such can’t be part of this rot. Zambia forward.
    How much is a Dollar today? It will soon be K23 as it was before. Forward! Forward!

  5. Every time I have this alcohol induced diarrhoea,I always imagine that my toilet is HHs mouth. I then freely release prrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I must have had beer poisoning last night

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    • Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
      Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
      All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
      Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

  6. @tarino and yet you forget I was always there to condemn PF on areas of corruption and lavish expenditure plus I ditched PF as far back as 2019 and was there also wishing UPND to win the 2021 elections because we were all tired of their acts. According to your argument then you should equally say the same to half of the current UPND administration who comprise former members of both MMD and PF such as Nalumango and Mwaliteta. We will criticism and praise were we see it fit that is the beauty of a democracy which we as Zambians all fought for.

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