Wed, 20 Dec 2017 10:33:09 +0000
By Bennie Mundando
BILLLIONS of Kwacha illegally stashed outside the country in the United Kingdom and Luxemburg by Saturnia from offshore endowment instruments may be lost if the Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) fails to release a special forensic audit report on the fund operations ordered by Minister of Finance Felix Mutati, some trustees have observed.
An inspection report of April 2016 revealed the unauthorized externalization of K399 million, disappearance of title deeds for 51 properties belonging to the fund and misapplication of pension funds to settle the liabilities of a private limited company bearing the same name as the pension fund.
Saturnia trustees, who have not been allowed to meet for the last one year are concerned that records and documents may have been manipulated and doctored to hide offences, because the money was remitted without their approval and that of the minister.
Despite an ultimatum, by the minister for audit report, this is still at large thereby raising anxiety and suspicion among trustees over the delay as fears have mounted suggesting that that the report may not be a proper representation of their expectations.
The endowments have since matured but the UK companies have refused to release the funds as they were questioning the relationship between Saturnia Fund which was purchasing them and Saturnia Limited, the entity paying the premiums on the investments.
Trustees are worried that once the investment is lost, the ultimate losers to bear the consequences were pensioners who have already waited for such a long time to get their dues but without any success as the fund has been entangled in a financial crisis ranging from fraud allegations, mistrust, bickering among stakeholders and legal suits.
“The Fund is losing interest and ultimately the members of the pension funds are the sufferers,” one of the trustees said.
The trustees have appealed to Mr. Mutati to ensure that the report was released, saying it has been eight months from the time he ordered and gave the PIA a one-month ultimatum to ensure that a forensic audit be conducted and its finding concluded within 30 days to ascertain the gravity of the alleged irregularities by the Fund.
The trustees have expressed worry that with the report taking long to be released, its outcome may be doctored to favour the fund managers who were allegedly the culprit in the running of the pension scheme.
“PIA was given a one-moth ultimatum to make sure the investigations are conducted and the report made to the minister but what has happened? That directive was made in May and we are now coming to the end of the year without any tangible result. Is the minister satisfied with the current state of affairs? We want answers,” the trustee demanded.
Eight months ago, Mr. Mutati ordered the PIA and gave them a one-month ultimatum to carry out an independent audit to assess the financial and operational governance of Saturnia Regna; Zambia’s largest private pension scheme but that has not come to fruition.
