UCZ sues ex-accountant over K245,000 loss

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 09:47:53 +0000

BY CHIKUMBI KATEBE

THE United Church of Zambia has dragged their accountant to court for alleged embezzlement of nearly K245,000.

This followed an audit that revealed that Charles Kalunga, who was employed in the UCZ Central presbytery, covering the Central Province of Zambia and was the church’s book keeper for 13 years until his resignation in December 2015 did embezzle church funds amounting to K244,929.00.

“Prior to Mr Kalunga’s resignation, the church carried out an internal accounts audit covering the period of 2013 – 2015 for purposes of verifying that cash received was properly recorded in the church records.

“The church will aver at trial that the said audit conducted revealed that Mr Kalunga had embezzled funds amounting to K244,929.00,” they charged.

The UCZ general secretary explained that part of the reason for the audit was to mitigate loss of cash and assets in the church by recommending ways of improving financial control systems.

They alleged that Mr Kalunga initially hesitated to make himself available for queries that arose from the internal audit despite several attempts by the church until September 2016.

“The defendant eventually reluctantly availed himself to the auditors on or about 9th and 10th of September 2016 leading to the review of the audit report which was signed by both parties as a way of engineering the contents were accurate and true.

‘‘The audit report revealed a total of K244,929.23 had not been banked or accounted for by the defendant in the Central Presbytery and Synod bank accounts during the period of January 2013 to December 2015,” they submitted.

They charged that Mr Kalunga had been negligent and dishonest in the course of his employment as he failed to execute his duties with transparency which led to loss and damage on the side of the church.