By NATION REPORTER
THE K65 million cash money that was seized from Faith Musonda and forfeited to the State was initially converted by the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) for its own use before electronically wiring it to Zanaco’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) account, Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti has disclosed.
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Speaker Mutti has confessed to Parliament that the K65 million cash which was reported to have been misappropriated was in fact couriered to the premises of the Bank of Zambia, which had to convert it for its own use but facilitated an electronic transfer to the ACC Zanaco Account.
After Charles Milupi, the Acting Minister of Finance and National Planning failed to convince the Patriotic Front (PF) Members of Parliament on how the money moved from the ACC to the Ministry of Education, Speaker Mutti decided to move in to assist government explain the paper trail.
When the K65 million was first brought up in Parliament, then acting Finance Minister Milupi claimed that the money was deposited into the Bank of Zambia Control 99 account.
Ms Mutti then ordered that a ministerial statement be issued to explain the movement of the but that was after ACC board chairman Musa Mwenye had announced that the K65 million had moved from the Commission’s account at the Central Bank to to the Ministry of Finance on March 3, 2023.
According to Ms Mutti, the K65 million cash was too much a volume of currency in quantity that it was not safe to for the money to be physically transferred to the ACC account at Zanaco hence the decision by Bank of Zambia to convert the cash for its own use.
But her decision to explain government’s position did not sit well with the opposition forcing Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Brain Mundubile rising on a point of order.
In his point of order, Mr Mundubile said the PF Members of Parliament were constrained because the explanation by Speaker Mutti raised the issue of custody of documents and ownership.
But Speaker curtly interjected and declared that the documents which were laid on the table of the House were for the Speaker and not for the House and could therefore not be questioned for reading them.
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