Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Six Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) managers and thirty-eight doctors were arrested for corruption in 2023, a Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) official has said.
The doctors were arrested for allegedly overdrawing money from PSMAS using wrong tariff codes to steal funds from the medical aid scheme.
At the time, the Medical and Dental PrivatePractitioners of Zimbabwe Association (MDPPZA) described the “blitz” that netted the doctors as a “witch hunt” on service providers who had stood by PSMAS when others were rejecting their cardholders.
Speaking at an inter-agency breakfast meeting hosted by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) on Wednesday ZACC commissioner Gabriel Chaibva revealed that Zimbabwe scored a low 24 out of 100 on the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index. He said(via NewZimbabwe.com):
This rating is a sobering portrayal of corruption levels in the country, it is important for us to critically examine the corruption ecosystem and exert pressure on the developed world to desist from encouraging corruption in developing worlds by allowing the corrupt to stash the proceeds of corruption in their countries.
Through inter-agency collaboration, we need to retrieve all the funds and assets hidden in foreign lands.
In the past year, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) conducted joint investigations into Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) corruption.
This collaboration led to the arrest of six members of the executive management and 38 doctors. This case highlights the power of coordinated action in addressing corruption at all levels.
Chaibva said that ZACC, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), recovered 250 vehicles imported through abuse of the Civil Servants Motor Vehicle Rebate Scheme. He said:
Following a report from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development about the rampant abuse of the scheme, ZACC and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) jointly investigated the Civil Servants Motor Vehicle Rebate Scheme. Although the investigation is ongoing, we have already recovered over 250 vehicles.
The Civil Servants Motor Vehicle Rebate Scheme was introduced by the government in 2019 as an incentive for civil servants with 10 or more years of service to import motor vehicles duty-free.
However, authorities say some civil servants were importing cars for other people for a fee.
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