Investigations into one of the biggest financial misconduct in Telecoms history in Zimbabwe involving Netone has been completed, with a report fully compiled.
Price Waterhouse Coopers, (PWC) had been contracted to conduct an extensive forensic investigation into the dealings of Netone.
One of the biggest questions everyone was asking was did NetOne CEO Reward Kangai and his executives take part willingly to the allegations of financial misconduct, fraud, regulatory breaches, bribery and other corruption-related matters.
The wait is finally over to hear the outcome is nearly over as PWC has completed the audit process and a source close to the development said they have handed the findings to the Comptroller and Auditor-General Mildred Chiri who will review the critical elements of the finds in terms of applicable principles and guidelines. Techunzipped has learnt.
A source said on Saturday preliminary conclusions from the forensic investigation into the scandal could be received later this this week or the coming week.
It is on record that in the past ,the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s Office had no “whip” to crack on government officials and parastatal bosses implicated by its annual audits for misappropriation of funds, embezzlement and other fraudulent activities. But the Netone case could be a little different, it is an open secret that Mr Kangai and the minister of ICT Postal and Courier Services, Hon Supa Mandiwanzira were not in good book.
Kangai on the 21 of April sent a letter to the Cabinet secretary arguing that the “decisions to undertake a forensic audit at NetOne and for him to be put on forced leave were not board decisions, but directives from the minister and the board chairman after resistance to make unprocedural payments to a bogus entity named Megawatt Energy (Megawatt)”.
In his defense over the matter Hon Mandiwanzira said that the government will wait for the outcome of the audit to decide how it handles the matter, and that it would have been ill advised for him to ignore the request by the board to have an audit over many queries raised.
A source said it could take more time to for use to get our hands on the report as they are a lot of bottle necks in the system. After the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s office obtains financial audit reports and reviews the critical elements of the finds in terms of applicable principles and guidelines. The audit report is then submitted to Parliament through the Ministry of Finance. When it reaches Parliament, the audit report is first studied by the public accounts committee before it’s tabled before the full House.
At this stage the Ministry of Finance is obliged to produce Treasury minutes detailing the measures and recommendations proposed by Parliament, a copy of which should be submitted to the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s Office.
The Comptroller and Auditor-General’s Office has over the years exposed systematic corruption write large in state enterprise and parastatals, but government has taken little or no remedial action.
- TechZim
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