The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has refuted allegations that the K65 million forfeited to the state from Faith Musonda has been misappropriated by the Commission as stated in a purported interim management letter circulating on social media.
Speaking in a press briefing this morning, ACC Board Chairperson Musa Mwenye SC emphasised that the Commission has not received the document and have only had sight of it from social media and press reports and cannot vouch for its authenticity.
Mr. Mwenye says the Commission will not address the document that is circulating on social media, noting that it contains many inaccuracies and details that appear tailored to deliberately embarrass the institution.
He has cited page 61 of the purported management letter, where there is an allegation that K65 million forfeited from Ms. Musonda was misappropriated and he states that this is a blatant falsehood.
Mr. Mwenye says the Anti-Corruption Commission handed over a cheque for K65, 333, 046 to the Minister of Finance on the 23rd February 2022 and the money moved from the ACC account at Bank of Zambia to the Ministry of Finance on 3rd of March 2022 thus rendering the allegations that the funds were misappropriated untrue.
The News Diggers Newspaper has reported that a leaked Auditor General’s management letter to the Anti-Corruption Commission for the financial year ended 31 December, 2022 has revealed that Faith Musonda’s forfeited cash amounting to K65, 333, 046 and K1, 001, 138.41 have not been deposited into Control 99 and that the whereabouts of the funds are still unknown.
They further report that the letter has also revealed that 164 payments totalling K5, 994, 086.78 processed by the Commission had no supporting documents.
News Diggers further writes that Office of the Auditor General Head of Public Relations Ellen Chikale has expressed shock at the leakage, saying the document is not an authentic audit report, as purported, but a management letter with raw data that has neither been reviewed nor shared with the client as per procedure.