Africa-Press – Lesotho. A syndicate of employees at the Ministry of Finance allegedly manipulated the payment system to steal M50 million. An officer from the police’s fraud department is also in hot water for allegedly colluding with the syndicate that is suspected to have been looting from the government for the past three years.
The officer, who has since been asked to explain why he should not face a disciplinary hearing, is alleged to have joined the looting scheme instead of investigating the matter.
So far six officers in the treasury department have been suspended but more could be caught in the net as investigations continue. Four of the suspects were questioned by the police last Friday but were not arrested.
Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli confirmed the investigation but refused to give further details. Minister of Finance Thabo Sophonea also confirmed that the syndicate left a M50 million hole in the government’s treasury chest and that investigations are continuing.
Sophonea said it is too early to mention names and say how many officials are involved because investigations are ongoing. “I think so far there are six but you cannot be sure, this investigation is just starting,” Sophonea said.
He said they discovered fraud during a routine staff reshuffle in the treasury department. Sophonea told thepost that it appears that some of the officials tried to make huge dubious payments before being reassigned.
“It is those big payments that raised the flag,” Sophonea said. A subsequent audit revealed the full extent of the rot in the department that is essentially the custodian of the government’s money.
Sophonea said preliminary investigations have revealed that the officials were forging payment instructions to the Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) to transfer huge amounts to suppliers.
One such instruction was a payment for consultancy services to the Ministry of Water. The company invoiced the ministry M900 000 but the treasury officials changed it to M31 million.
It is not clear if the company or others whose details were used were in on the sleaze. Investigations have however revealed that the group had been using this method for the past three years.
The police officer who is now in trouble is alleged to have started investigating the fraud 18 months ago but shelved the cases, ostensibly because the suspects shared the spoils with him.
There were also such fraudulent payments to companies that had supplied goods and services to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. For example, a payment instruction of M1 000 would be charged to reflect that M10 million has to be paid to the supplier.
Sophonea said some of the instructions did not have the accompanying documents. In some cases, he said, there would be two payment instructions, the genuine one and the forged one.
“It appears to have been an elaborate scheme,” the minister said, adding that the group used the details of local and foreign companies in their scheme. He said some of the money has been recovered “but a lot has disappeared”.
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