THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) failed to provide supporting documents for approximately US$21 000 in expenditure, raising serious concerns about corruption and governance issues within the graft fighting organisation, the latest Auditor-General report has revealed.
“I was not provided with supporting documents to validate expenditure amounting to ZWL$353 472 (equivalent to US$21 078 at the interbank rate). There were no invoices and or supplier statements to support the expenditure. In addition, the commission did not avail creditor’s reconciliations for the 2019 financial period,” the Auditor-General said in the report.
Former Auditor-General Mildred Chiri said during the two-year audit period (2019 and 2020), there were also several governance issues that were plaguing the anti-graft body, among them the mismanagement of fuel.
“The commission was not maintaining its fuel register properly. There were instances where the fuel register had incomplete details on running balances and recipient signatures. In addition, fuel receipts with a total of 43 420 litres were not recorded in the fuel register. This was contrary to the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act [Chapter 22:19] section 49,” the report read.
“There was also no evidence that the fuel registers were being regularly reviewed by a senior officer during the year.”
In response, Zacc said, “Administration will make sure that fuel issuance is properly recorded in compliance with section (104)1 of the Public Finance Management Act [Chapter 22:19]. The observation is noted. The record of fuel issued and received is now being maintained and reconciliations are being carried out as of the 2021 financial year.”
The Auditor-General also flagged the issue of cars that were purchased, but never delivered.
“The commission paid ZWL$5,7 million (US$345 918) for the acquisition of 10 motor vehicles. However, only five vehicles had been delivered as at December 31, 2020. There was no evidence to support that the remaining five vehicles were subsequently delivered by the time of my audit,” Auditor-General noted.
Zacc also failed to comply with International Accounting Standard 21, which requires entities to translate their foreign currency balances into their functional currency at an exchange rate that reflects the economic reality of the transaction.
Instead, Zacc used an exchange rate that was set by the government, which did not accurately reflect the value of the Zimdollar.
Source Zimbabwe Situation
