MAPUTO, Mozambique: June 20 (Xinhua) — Mozambican government has frozen bank accounts of the National Social Security Institute(INSS), Mozambique News Agency(AIM) reported on Tuesday night.
The order for the closure came from the country’s minister of Labour, Helena Taipo, following recent financial scandals by the institute. Thousands of people are said to be affected seriously by the measure. They will not be able get their pensions.
According to the media, mismanagement of funds is among the problems the government came across.The media does not believe that the minister has legal powers to do so. Only one bank has complied with the order, according to the independent news sheet, Media Fax.
The publication quotes banks as saying that the minister is not one of the signatories of the INSS accounts, and not a client at all. An audit of the INSS accounts for the financial year 2009, carried out by the auditing and consulting firm Ernst & Young in September last year, found a sum of 14,114,185 meticais (about 507, 000 US dollars) sitting in bank accounts that the INSS management said had been closed years ago.
The last scandal was triggered by stories circulating in the media accusing the Board of Directors, including its chairman Inocencio Matavele, of gross mismanagement, says AIM. The INSS has been criticised when it was revealed that it planned to spend a million dollars on buying a big house for Matavele, the claim denied by him.
Two weeks ago it was reported that the INSS had spent 100,000 dollars buying a house in Matola for its executive director, Rogeria Muianga, and another 300,000 dollars on refurbishment. In addition, the board awarded a 25 million meticais (about 900, 000 dollars) contract to the company Ntuzi Investments to supply stationary and information material.This sum is said to be five times higher than bids from its competitors.
This forced the minister to cancel the tender on the grounds that there was a violation of the legal requirements concerning tenders. (Xinhua)
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