via Police destroy fines books – The Zimbabwean 19 February 2015
A new Auditor General’s report says thousands of records of fines raised by the Zimbabwe Republic Police disappeared before her office could audit them.
The police force has for some time been criticised for turning the roads into a cash cow by demanding spot fines from motorists, in violation of a three-year-old High Court order.
The disappearance of the records, said the AG, Mildred Chiri, made it difficult for her department to properly audit the money raised from fines. The report, which covers 2011-2013, indicates that at least seven police stations could not account for a whopping 5,033 fines receipt books known as Z69J, an amount that could translate into millions of dollars.
Chiri said the ZRP defended the disappearance of the books on the grounds that they were handled by inexperienced staff. However, checks on the ground by The Zimbabwean showed that police have a thorough system to account for the books, which are normally placed in the custody of senior officials with the rank of sergeant and above.
Critics see the disappearance as a sign that the force is hiding fraudulent and illegal handling of the revenue. This newspaper reported in 2013 that ZRP had removed Police Printers, which now prints the Z69J books, from the quartermaster’s jurisdiction to make it an independent unit in order to avert scrutiny.
According to government regulations, the fines books are supposed to be printed by Government Printers and not the police. “Contrary to Treasury instruction 0206, seven ZRP stations visited destroyed government financial records before audit,” Chiri said in her 304-page report .
Destruction of records reached catastrophic levels during the year to December 31, 2013. “As a result, audit could not verify the revenue collected,” she said in the report that was presented to Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa in January, but obtained by The Zimbabwean this week.
At Featherstone Police Station, 300 Z69J files were missing when auditors arrived. At Chivu Police Station, 404 files had been destroyed, while at Shamva Police Station, 709 files were missing. Bindura Rural police station destroyed 425 and Bindura Urban (Central) 569. Kwekwe Traffic destroyed the highest number – 2,626.
Using some provisions of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, the force has declared that it will press ahead with the controversial spot fines, even after a High Court Judge condemned the practice recently.
“The organisation acknowledges with regrets the observation that some stations have destroyed financial books and records before audit by the Office of the Auditor-General. It is regretted that such stations could not distinguish between internal audits conducted by Police General Headquarters/Ministry of Home Affairs and that of the Auditor General.
“In future, such errors will not take place as the organisation has made it priority to educate and train its personnel to observe Standing Orders and Treasury Instruction 0206 with regard to destruction of financial records,” wrote police management in response to the AG’s findings.
The audit exposed extensive inconsistencies in charges levied against motorists, with some below and others above standard fines as written in the Deposit Fines Schedule. In one incident by Victoria Falls Traffic Police, a motorist was charged $20 for driving a car without a number plate. The actual fine is $5.
At Hwange Traffic Police Station, a motorist was fined $15 for driving without a licence. The actual fine was $20.
COMMENTS
Why would they keep ticket books for monies that are never remitted to the state, but are a self-enrichment scheme? The rot will go on for as long as Zanu is misgoverning Zimbabwe.
Why would the police keep the ticket books for money that lined their pockets? This rot will be with us for as long as Zanuidiots are misgoverning Zimbabwe.
How can you get a hyena to look after the goats. We have said that the going ons with regards to spot fines encouraged corruption. There you have it. In normal countries court records (which in reality these are) for minor offences are kept for at least 10 years. In the United Kingdom most minor traffic offences will stay on your record for three years in most jurisdictions. The time frame varies from state to state. Minor traffic offences consist of minor speeding, typically anything under 10 to 20mph over the speed limit, failure to signal, failure to stop and similar offences. If you commit one of these offences and cause an accident, the offence becomes more severe and you accrue more points. After the three-year period, the ticket drops off your records and the points are removed from your record. Insurance companies and potential employers should not be able to see the ticket after that point. In Zimbabwe it seems they disappear soon after you pay.Now we wait and see what this corrupt administration will do. In a normal country all the heads of these Police stations would be asked to resign. This people is the tip of the iceberg. Who’s to say it’s not happening in other departments. We already know that Railway Conductors were pocketing revenue from fares as far back as the 80’s.
What a sorry state of affairs.
This of course comes as no surprise when you see the number of zrp driving nice cars. I even saw one who owns a BMW!! They need to open this all to the public and tell us who these people are and what stations are guilty. It must not stop here, we have the right to know. They MUST prosecute these thieves.
This is nothing new my Zimbabweans. Imagine if no one is working in Zimbabwe that is 100% unemployment. Where would the money come from for these lawful thieves? Your guess is as good as mine.
There is not such a thing as police in Zimbabwe. These guys are filthy thieves.
Fish rot from the head, full stop. If police are like this, how about the top…….. guess it
lawless place