Intelligence Service To Be Audited

LUSAKA, May 14 - The Zambia Security Intelligence Service (ZSIS) will this year be audited to curb abuse, Finance and National Planning Minister Ng'andu Magande has revealed.

Mr Magande noted that the Office of the President Special Division had not been audited in the last 10 years resulting in the institution being used or involved in activities of suspected plunder of national resources.

He explained that following revelations of how the institution was used in suspected money laundering activities, the New Deal administration had made a decision to start auditing the accounts of the special branch.

He said this on Wednesday evening during the Transparency International-Zambia (TI-Zambia) public discussion on Public Finance Management and Utilisation at Holiday Inn, Garden Court in Lusaka.

He also disclosed that the current amendment to the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) Act would provide for fax and e-mail messages as evidence.

Mr Magande said the current law only provided for personal evidence but with the fast growing technology where people used electronic transfers, fax and e-mail messages this would now be used as evidence in courts of law.

The Finance minister also disclosed that the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) monitoring team was suspended because it was operating without a legal backing.

Mr Magande said Government found it prudent to suspend the team after people who were mentioned in the HIPC tracking and monitoring reports questioned the authority under which the team was operating.

Recently released reports by the HIPC tracking and monitoring teams on Northern and Copperbelt provinces named senior Government official as being involved in the diversion of HIPC resources.

Mr Magande said Government wanted to find a mechanism of incorporating the HIPC team into the law.

Source: The Times of Zambia / allAfrica Global Media

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