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THE Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) management following allegations of corruption in the procurement of vehicles for its staff.
The commission on Thursday visited the national broadcaster to investigate the fraud.
On Friday, ZBH hastily issued a statement exonerating its management from the allegedly corrupt deals that have sucked in a former Zanu PF diplomat.
The investigation stems from the procurement of 28 BAW vehicles, but it was not immediately clear how much money was spent on the deal. The vehicles were sourced from China and it is believed that a senior official at ZBH benefited richly from the deal.
An insider revealed the official could have got as many as three cars as kickbacks for facilitating the deal with the Chinese car maker.
The insider revealed that ZBH had a deal with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), to get the cars into the country duty free, but the procurement committee claimed the deal had fallen through without giving details. The procurement committee is made up of senior managers.
A BAW pick-up vehicle reportedly costs US$2 000, with shipping and after customs clearances the cost of one car may go up to as much as US$6 000. However, ZBH is reported to have paid US$12 000 for each vehicle; and that has raised eyebrows.
“Initially the committee was given US$50 000 to acquire the vehicles, but went back to request another US$50 000,” the insider said. “They kept going back requesting for more money until the vehicles were enough and that probably caught the attention of the Anti-Corruption Commission.”
The insider added that initially they had wanted to buy Isuzu trucks from South Africa, which cost US$12 000 each, considering that they would not pay duty, but the official at the centre of the alleged corruption reportedly vetoed that in preference to the BAW deal.
It was further revealed that a dossier compiled by auditors had been released and it documented the extent of the rot at the state broadcaster. ZBH spokesman, Sivukile Simango denied that the Anti-Corruption Commission had visited them, though he confirmed that there was an external audit being undertaken.
It was not immediately clear if anyone else had benefited from the deal, though the whole executive was under investigation.
On Friday night, ZBH went on a charm offensive denying that they were being investigated. A statement was read on all its bulletins refuting the story.
The corporation stated that disgruntled individuals were circulating allegations of corruption and these were false.
“The document contains falsehoods and is aimed at tarnishing the image of the corporation and some members of the executive management by alleging that some unscrupulous deals were conducted unethically,” reads the statement by ZBH.
“There are external auditors looking at our 2009 books at the moment,” he said, before referring questions to Happison Muchechetere, the ZBH chief executive officer.
Contacted for comment, Muchechetere, said he did not discuss such issues over the phone before hanging up.
BY OUR STAFF
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The corruption,including "carpet" interviews and promotion has been a feature of that institution for time immem*rial.
Where there's smoke, there's fire. Where there's a stink, there's rot!