MUTATI
By CHUSA SICHONE-
THE Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has heard that the Ministry of Justice reported the Voluntary Separatees Association of Zambia (VSAZ) and their law firms to the police for allegedly trying to defraud Government of about K800 million.
Appearing before the PAC chaired by MMD Lunte Member of Parliament (MP) Felix Mutati in Lusaka on Monday, Ministry of Justice Permanent Secretary Joseph Akafumba disclosed that Government would have lost not less than K800million as a result of alleged “fake” claims by VSA and the law firms.
“As a ministry, we are proud to report that after a thorough reconciliation of this account, we have managed to save Government from losing a colossal sum of not less than K800 million through inflated claims from the VSAZ and their respective law firms.
“The committee may wish to note that before reconciling this debt, the claims from the VSAZ stood at over a trillion Kwacha in April, 2013, after Government had already released a total of K433, 878,922,999.04 towards settlement of this debt,” he said.
Mr Akafumba, however, said after the reconciliation exercise that lasted six months, the amount established was K82, 474,134.16 and that Government had to date released K526, 261,657.16.
The revelations prompted Choma United Party for National Development (UPND) MP Cornelius Mweetwa and Mr Mutati to ask if Mr Akafumba was implying that VSAZ and its reaspective law firms were in a cartel to defraud the State.
In response, Mr Akafumba said he could not tell if that was an attempt to defraud the State but wondered why VSAZ and the law firms were allegedly inflating claims by also including those which Government had already settled.
He said the ministry of Justice was prompted to report the matter to the police after reconciliations revealed that VSAZ and the law firms were allegedly demanding to be paid without producing a list of claimants and how much each claimant was owed.
Mr Mutati asked why Mr Akafumba had not included the matter in his written submission to which the permanent secretary said it was an oversight on his part.
