‘Expedite fired minister’s graft probe’

Sun, 10 Dec 2017 10:42:04 +0000

By AARON CHIYANZO

I SACKED one minister because he was not cooperative with the Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC) when being investigated for corruption, says President Edgar Lungu.

And the Head of State called on the commission to expedite investigations into alleged corruption by the fired minister.

President Lungu said that the fired minister was too pompous to attend to investigative wings on the pretext that he was untouchable.

“I fired one minister because he was not cooperative with investigative wings when probing him for corruption. He used to tell investigative wings that he was untouchable as a cabinet minister. If a minister is cheeky and pompous, I drop, we part ways,” he said.

President Lungu said that allowing corruption to thrive was tantamount to allowing the economy to perish.

The Head of State said this in Lusaka yesterday when he officiated at this year’s International Anti-Corruption Day under the theme “Corruption: an impediment to sustainable development goals”.

President Lungu expressed disappointment that those who talk too much about corruption did not even spare time to attend the anti-corruption event. He called on all citizenry to help ACC with information leading to successful probing of all culprits of corruption.

President Lungu warned that he would not condone corruption during his reign that there would be no sacred cows when it came to corruption prosecution.

“I wonder why investigative wings are taking long to probe with the minister I sacked. We are waiting for the findings,” he said.

Meanwhile, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country director, Sergio Valdin said that over US$ 1 trillion was paid in bribes worldwide every year.

Mr Valdin said that an estimated US$2.6 trillion were stolen annually through corruption, a sum he said was equivalent to more than 5 per cent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He said that corruption adversely affected the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals through reduction in access to human rights.