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| National |
| ACB justifies Mtingwi order |
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by
Pilirani Semu-Banda, 31 October 2004
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17:28:41
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The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said Sunday Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) commissioner general Ernest Mtingwi has been ordered not to report for duties for the next three months because the bureau’s investigations into corruption at the national tax collecting office have not been going on well.
Mtingwi was served a restriction order by the ACB on Friday while he was out to Lilongwe attending a meeting.
ACB spokesperson Egritta Ndala said the bureau wants to do its work at MRA without any interference hence the restriction order against Mtingwi.
“Investigations into MRA have not been running smoothly and this is why Mr. Mtingwi has been ordered to stop working. We don’t want any interference into our investigations,” said Ndala.
She said the probe at MRA is to do with procurement and employment. She did not elaborate.
Last week, ACB put another restriction notice on the deputy director of tax audit and investigations at MRA Eric Ning’ang’a following a probe on how he was employed.
The Corrupt Practices Act empowers the bureau to issue restriction orders for three months but that this can be reviewed if the ACB has not finished with its investigations.
A top government official, who did not want to be mentioned, indicated that the previous government deliberately delayed the confirmation of Mtingwi as commissioner general by almost a year to use him to cover up corruption at the tax collecting body.
MRA is also being investigated for allowing former President Bakili Muluzi to bring in over a 100 vehicles while avoiding duty and not being questioned by the tax collector.
Three weeks ago, some employees of MRA asked ACB to investigate how some senior officials were recruited at the tax office and one board member admitted that some board members bulldozed their way to hire Mtingwi as Commissioner General against a popular board opinion and a consultant report that favoured advertising the top job. |
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