Pensioners to engage public protector over PIA misconduct

Wed, 07 Jun 2017 11:07:47 +0000

By NATION REPORTER

Gross misrepresentation of frauds in private pension funds by the Pensions and Insurance Authority has now forced pensioners seek intervention from the office of the Public Protector.

They have decided to file a complaint against the massive abuse almost all funds are experiencing due to the widespread abuse of funds by fund managers.

Spokesperson for the Group Lennox Nyangu said a steering committee had been formed to seek more effective investigation into the wanton abuse of pension laws which had resulted in massive abuses of funds which the PIA was countenancing, to the detriment of pensioners.

“We are worried about the attitude of the PIA towards fund managers who have flagrantly flouted the Pension and Insurance Authority Act,” he said.

He cited as a total distortion a statement by the PIA Registrar published in the media that all was well in the pension funds.

“we have so many pension cases before the courts  of law” he asked.

He said that the PIA press statement was full of blatant lies. For example the statement deliberately fails to disclose that the fund managers at Saturnia Regna flouted the law when they made offshore investments without the approval of the minister.

‘No one in this country has disputed the existence of this law, what we have all complained about is the flouting of the law and the failure by PIA to take remedial action. The PIA cannot run away from its responsibility by referring the matters back to the Trustees,” Mr. Nyangu insisted. Mr. Nyangu also wondered why the PIA was twisting the story over the court issues involving the Trustees and fund managers of the Saturnia Fund. According to the judgments, both injunctions were thrown out by the courts and yet the PIA was cheating that they were discontinued and discharged respectively.

“How can a man holding a statutory office engage in such lies? We will ensure that appropriate action is taken by the Public Protector,” Mr. Nyangu said.

Mr. Nyangu said that the group had written evidence which proved the failure of the PIA to enforce the pension laws and their bias towards fund managers at the expense of the workers whose interests they are supposed to protect.

He disclosed that four private pension schemes for Standard Chartered Bank, Puma Energy Zambia, Barclays Bank and Anglo American have failed to pay the envisaged pension benefits and there are cases pending in the Zambian Courts as proof of the dysfunction of the pension system for many years.