By HELEN ZULU –
THE Zambia National Famers Union (ZNFU) has resolved to review the audit report which accused senior officials of missapropriation of funds to allow independent experts review the terms of reference.
The ZNFU board of directors resolved to review the entire process and findings with a view of appointing an independent auditor to be agreed upon with the cooperating partners
The preliminary audit report commissioned by Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA) and carried out by Elasto Mambo of EMM Corporate Partners accused senior officials at ZNFU of allegedly misappropriating K34 million through fraud, tax evasion and abuse of authority.
ZNFU first vice-president Richard Lisimba said the board of directors after a board meeting found that the report had serious inconsistencies and lacked credibility.
Mr Lisimba said the board resolved to set aside the audit report and request the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (ZICA) to appoint a high level panel of independent experts to review the terms of reference of the audit.
“The preliminary report does not give any substantiated evidence of fraud of both ZNFU and donor funds,” he said.
Mr Lisimba said ZICA should also interrogate the professional conduct of the Auditor of the Auditee.
He said ZNFU observed that the auditor had inadequate understanding of the union’s operations and its partnership arrangement with donors under the core support.