Parliament Queries Chinamasa’s Role In Treasury Bill

0Shares

Former finance and economic development minister Patrick Chinamasa approved a Treasury Bill (TB) worth over US$737, 9 million while his term had expired, a damning parliamentary report on the Command Agricultural programme revealed last week.

The 2018 general elections were held on July 30, 2018.

The former finance minister’s term expired on July 29, 2018, the report noted.

It said his role in government at the time that he approved the TBs was that of a caretaker for emergency purposes only, until President Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in.

According to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee’s report presented in Parliament last week following a two-year probe on how funds were used under the special maize programme, better known as Command Agriculture, Chinamasa on August 10, 2018 approved a huge TB in the sum of US$737 904 758.

“A further concern is the approval provided for by Honourable minister Chinamasa on the 10th August 2018 of a huge Treasury Bill in the sum of US$737 904 758,” the report by the committee, chaired by Gweru Urban Member of Parliament Brian Dube, states.

“The committee finds it totally remiss that an individual without power would create indebtedness to the State to the tune of almost a billion United States dollars. This was unacceptable conduct.

“Also questionable was the action of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, John Mangudya, in trying to clear the RBZ’s mess by asking an individual without power to approve huge amounts of payments for its own external indebtedness acquired without Parliament approval as required by section 327 of the Constitution before a new minister comes in,” reads the report.

The report further says: “Nothing can be more roguish than the bank asking for a powerless minister to approve an indebtedness of almost a billion dollars without Parliament’s approval.” It alleges that Chinamasa and the RBZ superintended over a murky and illegal process through dubious approvals of Treasury Bills that have saddled the government with a debt of nearly US$1,6 billion.

Members of Parliament have called on the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission to probe their actions.

Parliamentarians have also called for a forensic audit to establish how much the country lost in the arrangement, done outside the tender process.

–Zimbabwe Independent