Mon, 19 Feb 2018 09:49:59 +0000
Why are law enforcement agencies abetting criminality at Saturnia Pension Fund?
Have they been corrupted to turn a blind eye to glaring theft of pensioners’ funds or is it a question of sheer incompetence?
It is inconceivable that the entire criminal justice system could be oblivious to the Saturnia saga. The inexplicable lethargy and inertia exhibited in the face of repeated reports of abuses at the fund is a serious betrayal of trust.
Pension funds scams the world over have always elicited swift measures by Governments to safeguard the interests of workers who put away hard earned money for their retirement.
More than US$40million illegally externalized by the cabal that has captured the Saturnia Fund with little or no reaction from any of the law enforcement agencies. As a newspaper we have looked at Saturnia documentation and suffice to state that the US$40million is only a tip of the iceberg and rot. The rot is deep.
Something is very wrong.
If as a newspaper, we could discover so many irregularities why have officers paid to investigate criminal activities failed?
Time has come for the Trustees to take the initiative and seek legal action to claim the money and properties that have been illegally vested into private institutions that have nothing to do with the fund.
The trustees must seek a court injunction and take full ownership of the fund. Thereafter they must undertake their own audit to ascertain the financial integrity of the fund. They cannot rely on audits commissioned by the Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) or indeed other interested agencies which have allowed the perpetuation of illegalities.
It is very disturbing that the PIA which must serve as a regulatory authority has not only been complicit but is now conniving with the criminal cabal to engineer and scheme a highly disingenuous AGM before the forensic report ordered by former Minister of Finance Felix Mutati is released.
The report is complete but has not been released to the trustees who are now expected to attend the hastily convened AGM, whose agenda includes the election of trustees.
The intention, we have been told, is to ensure the removal of Trustees that have been questioning the illegal transaction in the fund. A very senior member of the cabal has been canvassing the removal of trustees to ensure the smooth passage of a forensic audit.
This is unacceptable.
It is now in national interest that this matter receives maximum expeditious attention, not only from law enforcement agencies but from all Zambians concerned with the display of impunity by a cabal that has preyed on official incompetence and compromise.
The law of Pension Trusts is very clear. Members represented by Trustee as the owners of the assets. It follows therefore that they must manage the affairs of the Trust. This obviously is not the case, hence the irregular and criminal abuse of funds which must be stopped.
The onus is now on Trustees to safeguard and recover all the resources that may have been squandered and the very first step should be to secure legal custody of the fund.
