The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is yet to act on the tip from a private citizen Gosten Chinseu who moved the bureau to probe into the source of funding for 44 new vehicles allegedly bought by the UTM Party.
Sources in the bureau said the former Director General Martha Chizuma was reluctant to pursue the tip hence the stalling of the investigations into the matter.
"It is true that there has been no movement on that matter and partly because the former ACB boss was not showing interest in assigning officers to follow on the allegations made against Mr. Khwesi Msusa and the UTM party," said a senior investigator in the bureau.
"It might not even be plausible to say there is a case file. Nothing was done and as you may recall, the one who lodged the matter was recalled to have his statement recorded again because the original one was missing," he added.
In his statement of claim, Chinseu alleged that the UTM acquired the vehicles through Khwesi Msusa, a contractor and an alleged sympathiser of the party.
A few months after he blew the whistle, Chinseu alleged that his statement of claim had gone missing in files at the graft bursting body.
However, in an interview that time, Chinseu said a statement he made on the matter in May has gone missing at ACB, adding, that the bureau wants him to make a fresh statement.
"You remember, I made a query with the ACB twice, the last was in May 2022. But on August 18, I was invited to the ACB to provide a statement on the query I had made. I was surprised because I already made that statement in May," said Chinseu.
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"The officer this time, (name withheld) said she could not find a statement in the original query file even in the duplicate, but I told her that the officer who opened the file already got my statement. The officer, who was said to be on holiday, phoned and confirmed what I was saying, but the statement was still not found," he added.
Chinseu said he left the ACB offices that day without making a fresh statement, but indicated that he had assured the graft-busting body of his cooperation on the matter.
"I haven't been contacted yet from August 18, but what I got from the bureau is that they want to investigate the matter. That is what I want and I am looking forward to it," he added.
However, at that time Chizuma confirmed receiving the queries.
"I can confirm that we have received two queries and have combined them. We are screening the queries," she said.
Msusa also declined to comment saying; "The matter is in the hands of the ACB, and let us wait for them to do their work and they will let us know."
The Political Parties Act of 2018, among others, compels political parties to disclose to the Registrar of Political Parties sources of their funding and any donations of specific amounts.
