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Government
freezes CDF accounts
Eshmael Mlambo, NewsDay
July 03, 2013
http://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/07/03/government-freezes-cdf-accounts/
Government has
ordered a freeze on all Constituency Development Fund (CDF) accounts
to curb abuse of the facility by outgoing MPs after it emerged most
had not exhausted their 2010 allocations.
Secretary for Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Virginia
Mabhiza told NewsDay yesterday her ministry had already ordered
banks to freeze the CDF accounts until after
the harmonised elections.
“The ministry
is currently writing to banks to freeze all CDF accounts so that
they can no longer be accessed by the outgoing MPs,” Mabhiza
said.
“This
will affect those MPs who did not fully utilise the funds and this
is in preparation for the handover of the amounts to the next Parliament.”
Mabhiza said
after dissolution of Parliament, the outgoing MPs no longer had
the mandate to do any transactions using CDF funds as these were
not individual accounts.
She said by
next week, all banks should have frozen the CDF accounts so that
no MP can illegally withdraw money from them.
Last week, the
Harare
Residents Trust produced a report raising fears that the funds
could end up being abused following dissolution of Parliament last
Saturday.
In 2010, the
Finance ministry allocated $50 000 for each constituency to fund
development projects. However, the programme later became the centre
of controversy after several MPs were accused of abusing the facility
to enrich themselves.
Four MPs from
Zanu PF and MDC-T were arrested and charged over the matter, but
the issue was shelved following the intervention of Attorney-General
Johannes Tomana.
“We have
cases where CDF funds were completely lost. One MP decided to invest
the money in Interfin Bank, but when it suffered liquidation the
money was stuck in the bank and could not be recovered. We are still
trying to recover the money,” she said.
Mabhiza said
her ministry would continue auditing the outgoing MPs and bring
them to court if found guilty of abusing public money.
“For those
who were once arrested, but had their cases withdrawn - withdrawal
before plea is not the end of the case. They will still be followed
up and if the State has enough evidence against them, they will
be re-summoned,” she said.
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