A SCHEDULED forensic audit into the goings-on at the
National Social Security Authority (Nssa) has taken a new twist after
Auditor-General Mildred Chiri wrote to an audit firm contracted to carry out
the job to immediately respond to claims that it was conflicted, it has been
established.
This comes amid nasty accusations and counter accusations
between parliamentary portfolio committee chairman on Mines and Energy Temba
Mliswa and former Nssa chairman Robin Vela over alleged corruption at the
social security agency.
Last month, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office received
a dossier from Mliswa on alleged corruption at Nssa.
The Nssa corruption dossier, titled The Abuse and Capture
of National Social Security Authority, relates a series of alleged corruption
activities, including the authority’s role in funding a local commercial bank
without following due processes.
The report says government could have lost millions of
dollars in the alleged corrupt activities.
It names senior government officials and private sector
players who allegedly benefitted from corrupt deals.
Last week, Mliswa escalated his fight by writing to Chiri,
warning that BDO Zimbabwe auditors, which had been tasked to carry out a probe
on Nssa, had been conflicted.
This immediately prompted Chiri to write to BDO Zimbabwe.
Chiri further wrote to Mliswa informing him that she would
apprise the lawmaker and parliament once BDO Zimbabwe responds.
“I am writing to advise that I am in receipt of a letter
from Hon. Temba P. Mliswa (MP) in which he is expressing reservations
about your firm’s involvement in the forensic audit of NSSA.
Details relating to the concern are contained in his
letter, which is attached. Could I please have your comments at your earliest
convenience,” Chiri wrote in a letter dated May 17.
Mliswa, in a letter to Chiri, claimed that the senior
partner at BDO Zimbabwe, Ngoni Kudenga, had a personal relationship with Vela
and this would compromise the audit.
Chiri and Mliswa’s letters were copied to Vice-Presidents
Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi; Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi; Labour
and Social Welfare minister Petronella Kagonye; Home Affairs minister Obert
Mpofu; Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Phillip Valerio Sibanda;
Prosecutor-General Ray Goba; Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga;
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission; and Central Intelligence Organisation boss
Isaac Moyo, among other senior officials.
“I wish to register my grave concern at the appointment of
BDO Zimbabwe as the auditors for the forensic audit scheduled to take place at
Nssa.
My concern stems from the close personal relationship
enjoyed between the former chairperson of Nssa Mr. Robin Vela and the CEO of
BDO Zimbabwe, Mr. Kudenga, that may have the propensity to prejudice
investigations,” Mliswa wrote in a letter dated May 14, 2018.
“They are in the same audit firm that were involved in the
allegedly shady Tetrad/Interfin tripartite transaction amonst other
transactions that further sheds doubt on the capacity of BDO Zimbabwe to
operate in an uncompromised manner.
I therefore propose that in order to obtain a fair and
credible audit, a totally independent audit firm may be urgently appointed, or
that the forensic audit at Nssa be delayed slightly whilst investigations into
the alleged misconduct are made.”
Vela, who had been mentioned in a dossier that Mliswa sent
to Mnangagwa, hit back at the lawmaker early this month, accusing him of
demanding a bribe from him.
He also accused Mliswa of trying to influence Nssa in
appointing a woman he has children with.
“Interestingly, the author (of the dossier-Mliswa) does not
talk about the pressure he put on minister Mupfumira to appoint the mother of
his two children, Ms Cynthia Mugwira, as the Nssa group legal and corporate
secretarial executive on the basis of gender,” Vela said.
“It is a fact that Ms Mugwira was not shortlisted as a
candidate by the recruitment committee because she was not qualified having
only obtained a 3rd class degree in law, following repeated failings in
numerous basic key subjects, and not having any job experience at such level in
any organisation let alone one of the size or standing of Nssa.”
Foreign investor Noel Hayes, who was accused by Mliswa of
insider trading, has also dismissed the claims, saying all his investments in
Zimbabwe were above board. Zimbabwe independent
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