{"id":18191,"date":"2022-12-15T07:49:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T07:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m"},"modified":"2022-12-15T07:59:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T07:59:55","slug":"govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m","title":{"rendered":"GOVT DEFRAUDED OVER E2.5M"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span>The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations have revealed that a local company has allegedly defrauded government of over E2.5 million paid for the renovation of State houses located in Mozambique.<\/b><\/p>\n

The PAC reported that government was made to pay E8.3 million for renovations yet the initial quotation was around E3.6 million.<\/p>\n

Further, there was no justification for the revised quotations and the payments were made without verification of the works done. As a result, some of the work was partially done while some work was not done at all yet it had been quoted and paid for.<\/p>\n

This was detailed in the report of the PAC in their investigation in the country\u2019s embassies in Mozambique and South Africa. The investigation in Mozambique and South Africa was conducted in terms of Section 129 of the Constitution of Eswatini Act, 2005, which gives powers to the committee to conduct commissions abroad.<\/p>\n

A commission is instituted when a witness or group of witnesses cannot physically attend the hearings and also the tribunal conducting the hearing needs to physically see the place in line with the inspection in loco principle in order to get a clear understanding of what may have happened by seeing, touching or feeling the evidence.<\/p>\n

The committee reported that the discoveries made during their investigations were disturbing. Certain remedial recommendations were made to the embassies concerned to correct certain anomalies. Further, the time was inadequate for the committee to conduct full investigations, hence the preliminary report.<\/p>\n

The committee, therefore, recommends to the House that it be given another opportunity to visit these embassies again to conduct follow up investigations to see if the remedial actions have been taken and also conduct an in depth investigation since what was done was just a sample.<\/p>\n

In the report on the inspection of the government houses located in Mozambique, the committee reported that government purchased two houses in Matola, Mozambique which are not in use.<\/p>\n

The state further paid almost E1 million to rehabilitate the houses and has paid over half a million Emalangeni in maintenance costs (security, rates, landscaping, cleaning and utilities) for these houses, which have not been occupied since the year 2016.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the committee recommended that the houses be sold, but that House resolution has still not been implemented. When the ministry is questioned on the issue, it keeps shifting goalposts as the reasons keep changing every year.<\/p>\n

The committee, therefore, wanted to see if the houses do exist and interview the relevant people on the failure to carry out the House resolution.<\/p>\n

Government paid a sum of E8 331 604.20 for renovations for staff houses and the Chancery (embassy offices) which were initially quoted at E3 699 540.<\/p>\n

The House resolved that the money amounting to E2 547 360 be recovered from the contractor and then be reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for investigations but the ministry\/embassy has failed to comply.<\/p>\n

The ACC wrote a letter, saying the embassy was failing or refusing to give them the relevant information which would enable the ACC to continue with the investigation.<\/p>\n

The committee wanted to meet the embassy and all relevant parties to find the cause for failure to implement the House resolution.<\/p>\n

The committee, accompanied by officials from the embassy, inspected the houses and found that they were in good condition. Each house has four bedrooms. There was a security guard who stays in one of the servants\u2019 quarters and his job is to take care of the houses.<\/p>\n

The challenge with the houses seemed to be the location as they are located deep inside the township and the road leading to them is in a bad state, while it also goes through a crowded area. There are also reports of constant floods in the area. According to the ministry and embassy, this was what deterred many buyers from purchasing the houses.<\/p>\n

The ministry reported that it had advertised the houses both in Mozambique and Eswatini but many potential buyers withdraw after discovering where the houses are located. There is however one businesswoman who has still not withdrawn her offer.<\/p>\n

Initially, she matched the asking price of E2.9 million per house but offered to buy the houses on condition that she was allowed to pay in monthly installments over a period of 12 months. However, government\u2019s financial regulations do not allow such method of payment.<\/p>\n

When the ministry reverted back to her with a response after consultations, it found that, even though she was still keen on purchasing the houses but she was now offering a lower price.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eswatini<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations have revealed that a local company has allegedly defrauded government of over E2.5 million paid for the renovation of State houses located in Mozambique. The PAC reported that government was made to pay E8.3 million for renovations yet the initial quotation was around E3.6 million. Further, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":18190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,248,249],"class_list":["post-18191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eswatini","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"\nGOVT DEFRAUDED OVER E2.5M - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations have revealed that a local company has allegedly defrauded governm ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GOVT DEFRAUDED OVER E2.5M\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations have revealed that a local company has allegedly defrauded governm ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-15T07:49:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-15T07:59:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671075288.63.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"409\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"GOVT DEFRAUDED OVER E2.5M\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-15T07:49:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-15T07:59:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m\"},\"wordCount\":770,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671075288.63.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eswatini\",\"Eswatini\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/govt-defrauded-over-e2-5m\",\"name\":\"GOVT DEFRAUDED OVER E2.5M - 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