A number of disciplinary hearings loom as a number of
officers, including managers, are under surveillance over flashy lifestyles.
The lifestyle audits come at a time when a number of
prosecutors have been arrested for corruption-related offences while others are
reportedly driving around in luxurious vehicles while some own a fleet of
commuter omnibuses and pirate taxis.
Such standards of living may be questionable considering
their salaries. Lifestyle audits involve verification of an officer’s personal
expenditure patterns to determine if it is consistent with their sources of
income that include salary.
Those who fail the audit will be charged in terms of the
law, with a possibility of being dismissed. In an interview, Prosecutor-General
Mr Kumbirai Hodzi said the lifestyle audits are part of a clean-up strategy at
the NPA.
“A cornerstone policy of State has been the fight against
corruption and organized crime. A cocktail of measures has been devised to
enhance the monitoring of the integrity of each Prosecutor.
“Among such measures, is the requirement to subject any
officer to a Life Style Audit, should the circumstances of the situation
require. These legitimate tools are in tandem with global trends and
international best practices.
“It is often said that an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure and for organizations such as the NPA and the PG’s Office this is
best achieved through an effective internal program for preventing and
detecting violations of the law or for ethical standards,” he said.
Mr Hodzi said those who fail to justify their wealth will
be dealt with in terms of the law.
“Those who cannot prove legitimate sources of their wealth
and assets will be subjected to legitimate due process of the law – a criminal
investigation, asset seizure and forfeiture, a civil or criminal process— and
internal disciplinary proceedings for summary dismissal from the PG’s Office
and NPA,” the prosecution boss said.
New recruits, Mr Hodzi said, will declare their wealth in
an asset register when joining the NPA.
Some years later, the NPA may check if there the officers
would have acquired unjustified wealth.
Mr Hodzi appealed to people to provide any information on
NPA staffers who are living larger than their statuses to institute
investigations.
“The public has always been very helpful in the fight
against corruption. We appeal for whistle-blowers to supply any information
helpful in the lifestyle audits at the NPA.
“So far, most of the information we are getting, is coming
from members of the public,” he said. Mr Hodzi said prosecutors must be men and
women of integrity who shun corruption.
“While the PG’s office and Prosecutor-General have embarked
on a number of initiatives such as improving the conditions of service and
ring-fencing prosecutors, what is ultimately most important is to ensure that
the prosecutor remains a person of high integrity.
“The prosecutor must live to the highest demands and ideals
of integrity both in his or her professional and private lives. The profession
of public prosecution demands this and anything less than the highest ideals of
integrity is simply not acceptable,” he said.
Recently, the NPA recruited 300 new prosecutors who are now
undergoing rigorous induction and training so that they become fit for purpose.
The development is set to ensure speedy prosecution of criminal cases
countrywide.
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) and the police have
since embarked on lifestyle audits with a number of officers being arrested or
subjected to disciplinary hearings. Herald
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