Stolen Funds Still Being Moved By Previous Government

Newly elected President Hakainde Hichilema has revealed that the previous government are still attempting to move previously stolen funds into private bank accounts.

Speaking during an interview earlier this week, the President revealed that the state of the treasury was far worse than he anticipated, partially due to ongoing corruption within the previous Patriotic Front government.

“We are picking issues in terms of movement of cash which is not really supposed to be the case but we believed we will be on top of things very soon in terms of knowing the extent of the damage,” Hichilema said.

He described the continuous movement of funds as “horrifying” before adding that “They [previous PF government] are still trying to do things now even when we made pronouncements very clearly that we want to stabilise the country.”

Adding to this comment, President Hichilema stated that his government had noticed that individuals who were not working are still on their payroll. He said that this is “exerting a further burden on the Treasury which is already stressed.”

In order to prevent such illegal acts from occurring within his own government, the President stated that he was in power to control spending.

“We are here to control frivolous expenditure, to be prudent, to make sure that we understand that our resources are scarce and they ought to be utilised in a most optimal manner,” Hichilema said. “We must help ourselves, this is fundamental, that is who we are.”

These comments were made following years of PF corruption, buying lavish cars and helicopters for private use with public funds.

The President’s first week in office has been busy as he starts to manage the economic crisis which the country was left in under previous PF power. He has already been transparent with voters, informing them that the treasury is “empty” as well as beginning to remove ghost workers from payrolls at ZESCO in an attempt to fix existing financial issues.