Investigations into allegations of gross mismanagement of public fuel reserves have ended and the report will be handed to the House next week, Sunday Times has learnt. A source from Parliament said Friday investigations ended on May 19. He declined to give the findings of the investigations. He did however say that the probe team acquired vital information during the investigation. Parliament had asked the team to look into credit sales of fuel to local companies and businesspersons who took long to pay or issued invalid cheques. A seven-man probe team was directed to scrutinise all issues related to the mismanagement of the country’s oil reserves. Former Speaker Juvénal Nkusi who led the parliamentary inquiry team confirmed the development yesterday. “We are going to give the report to the House and lawmakers will discuss it carefully and get to the bottom of the problem,” Nkusi said by phone. The motion to set up the probe came days after the Auditor General’s (AG) 2006 report showed that the Commerce and Industry Ministry (Minicom) had no record of fuel reserves. The report indicated that billions of francs could have been lost due to negligence on behalf of government officials. In her report, AG Evelyn Kamagaju cited a Japanese fuel grant to the Government which was supposed to be sold and proceeds injected into development projects. The grant was never recorded by either Minicom or the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (Minecofin). No official knew of this until the AG’s office brought it to Minicom’s attention during its audit in August 2007. The report also indicated that SAKIRWA had not paid for 1.45 million litres of fuel by the time the audit was conducted. Another case involved 2.14 million litres which Minicom kept in Kobil storage facilities in 2007, but the ministry could not produce documents to that effect. Ends
