Looting vehicles: New Auditor-General report shows how car deals are bleeding Govt
Millions looted from government through car deals
By Newswire
Looking for one sure way to make money from the Government? Get a tender, get paid, and just don’t bother supplying the goods.
The Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) has just tabled the 2023 audit report to Parliament, and it shows how the Government paid large sums of money for everything from cars, laptops to furniture, never got the deliveries, and did little to recover the money or the goods.
Here, we look at some of the cases inside in the OAG’s new report.
GD6s for Treasury
In December 2022, the Ministry of Finance ordered seven Toyota Hilux GD6 vehicles from Tsapo, a car dealership. According to the OAG: “The seven vehicles had not been delivered at the time of concluding the audit in September 2023.”
How did the Ministry respond? Officials told the auditors: “An email was sent on March 20, 2023 after three physical visits were made to enquire about the delivery. Thereafter, a formal letter of follow up was sent on March 23, 2023 as the supplier indicated that they were experiencing supply challenges on the production line. A final demand letter was then sent on April 13, 2023 and the supplier responded that delivery will be done in two weeks’ time.”
By May this year, the OAG reports, the cars were still to come.
Cruisers for Ministry of Mines
In September last year, the Ministry of Mines ordered a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado VXL and Toyota Land Cruiser 79 for US$193,000 from Burnett Motors. The Toyota Land Cruiser Prado VXL was delivered in April this year, but without the papers needed for change of ownership. The Toyota Land Cruiser 79 was still to come by May this year.
Cars for Home Affairs
In 2022, the OAG reported that the Ministry ordered 35 cars from Faramatsi Motors for ZWL$182,621,960. Government was to pay half of the money before delivery in four weeks. The Ministry paid ZWL$175,000,000 before supply. Faramatsi delivered 11 cars, leaving 24 outstanding in May this year.
The Ministry blames currency depreciation. It says when the order was made, the cost was equivalent to US$1.8 million. The payments that government made in 2022 were worth US$888,874, enough for just 17 cars. The Ministry says Faramatsi Motors has now delivered 15 cars and two are left.
The pricey missing laptops
Home Affairs paid US$422,487 for 26 printers, 67 laptops, 55 desktop computers and 22 printers. By May, 22 of the printers had not come.
In 2022, the Ministry also paid US$474,750 to Vital Computers for 150 i7 laptops, to be supplied in two weeks. By May this year, only 26 laptops had come. The OAG points out that Government ended up paying US$3,165 per laptop, when quotes elsewhere showed prices of between US$807 and US$960.
Moving furniture
In 2023, the Department of Immigration paid US$439,585 to Aganang Furniture for office furniture. By May, no furniture had been delivered. This was despite the contract demanding delivery within two weeks.
Captive contracts
Government paid US$8.1 million for 129 cars for the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS), but didn’t properly book this in the accounts. “Documents relating to the actual amount that was paid were not availed for my inspection. In addition, the actual amount paid was not disclosed in the Appropriation Account.”
Attorney General motors
Government in 2023 bought cars for the Attorney-General’s office; seven from Byword Trading for US$374,430 and 11 from Paza Buster for US$533,500. The cars should have been delivered in 6-8 weeks. However, by the time of the audit this year, the three Toyota Corollas and four Toyota Hilux 2.8 GD6 from Byword hadn’t come. The four Isuzu D-Max vehicles from Paza Buster were also yet to arrive.
Master of the Hilux
The Master of the High Court bought four Toyota Hilux cars from Croco Motors in 2022 for US$252,657. Agreed delivery was 40 days, but just one had come by June 2023.
‘Sport utility’ vehicles
Ministry of Sport bought 17 Nissan Navara cars in December 2022 for ZWL$393 171 724 from AMTEC. Only seven were delivered in 2023, and the rest had still not arrived by May this year. “In addition, out of those seven vehicles delivered, four of them were yet to be registered in the name of the Ministry.”
Credit : Newswire
