RELEASE SATURNIA AUDIT, GOVT URGED
GOVERNMENT should avail to the Zambian people the audit report on Saturnia Regna Pension Fund so that owners of the pension funds which were externalized can be at ease, 3rd Liberation Movement (3 LM) leader Enock Tonga has demanded.
A damning audit report on Saturnia Regna Pension Fund may never see the light of day because it has been trashed by the Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) under suspicious circumstances.
The PIA’s move has shattered the hopes of pensioners and other stakeholders who want to know what other measures Government has taken over the matter other than fining the Fund.
Last year, then Finance Minister Felix Mutati, ordered a forensic audit following reports of massive mismanagement and insider business dealings.
The revelations followed reports that directors who questioned the abuses were being forced out of the Fund to stop exposure of damaging information regarding the abuse of pensioners’ funds.
PIA, however, failed to avail the nation the findings of the audit and could not also clear the air on what measures had been taken against Saturnia.
Mr Tonga said it was unfortunate that pensioners whose money was externalized were having sleepless nights not knowing exactly what had happened with their money.
He reiterated that the worries, headaches and hopelessness the pensioners were going through could be avoided if Government could explain exactly what was going on.
Mr Tonga demanded that the audit report on Saturnia Regna Pension Fund be made available so that owners of the pension funds which were externalized could be put at ease.
“It is obvious that the pensioners are very worried wherever they are. Being kept in the dark is very disheartening and you can only expect sleepless nights if it’s something to do with money,” he said.
On June 26, 2018 Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe told the Daily Nation that Government had fined beleaguered Saturnia K2.7 million for externalising US$40 million to offshore investment accounts without permission from her ministry.
Ms Mwanakatwe also said the money which Saturnia had externalised and invested in offshore accounts had since been retrieved.