A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed that some civil servants connived to steal pension money amounting to K3 billion.
The audit was initiated after six cheques were intercepted following a complaint that pension payments were being made using distorted information.
The NAO’s investigation revealed that the transactions were forged by perpetrators and all the six transactions were initiated, authorized, approved and countersigned by the same people.
“All the transactions were initiated on the same day on 17th September 2015 and the cheques were printed/issued on 24th September 2015.
“This indicates a well-coordinated process which means these perpetrators knew when to strike and get away with it. We also believe this was not the first time, they must have been doing for a long time,” says the report.
The report adds that the perpetrators might have stolen more money.
It was further revealed that K393,625,019.99 was stolen when the culprits allocated the money to 59 people with the same employment number while more money was stolen using fake retired civil servants.
According to the report, when interrogating the Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS) master database for period ending 30 June 2016, auditors noted a significant number of officers were missing from the master database of all employees.
“For example, George M Kachikopa with employee number 12007 who was paid K15,463,773.57 could not be traced but his employee number was found to have been assigned to Hetherwick R.Z Njati currently working in Ministry of Finance.
“A total of 766 retired officers’ names could not be traced and payments for all the anomalies amounted to K2, 959,432,664.70,” says an excerpt of the report.
Another way the thieves stole money was reintroducing into the system employee numbers for officers who retired years back and assigning the numbers to other names presented as retiring officers.
Auditors during the exercise searched 20 names of the so called retiring civil servants and the names did not match with those existing in HRMIS Master Database.
“This irregularity has resulted into an amount of K254, 022, 929 unaccounted of loss through fraud,” says the report.
Even my father’s pension up to now, we have not yet been paid after he died in 2005. Late Goliath Chaloledwa had been working in government for 20 years without any intrusion in the government as results nothing we benefit as his children. We lost an opportunity of going to school bcz of money while richest people stole that money and go to drink beer and sleep with girlfriend while us, we are exhausted starving!! Plz Malawi where we gonna get peace as our own country is afflicting and discriminating us!! Plz journalists when u are reading this help us to tell the country about it! I will explain further as soon as u come back to me
Plz government must do something about!! Even my biological Father late Goliath Chaloledwa had passed away in 2005 up to now we have not yet get paid as beneficiaries. My father had been working in government as a game scout since 1979 to 1999. Is it fair up to 2018 the beneficiaries have not yet been paid up to now. I have been going to administrator general more than many years but each and every time I was told that there was no money in the standard bank. My father was my future but Malawi government employees blocked my future including my brother’s and my sisters bcz of this system. If one of the lawyer is reading my comment plz sir help me