The Sunday News
Thandeka Matebesi, Sunday News Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has this year investigated 46 cases of corruption among its officers as it reaffirms its zero tolerance to corruption stance.
Zimra Acting Head of Corporate Communications Mr Taungana Ndoro said the company had so far investigated 46 cases of corruption, 11 of which were referred for prosecution and one was finalised at the courts.
“A total of 46 cases were investigated during the period 1 January to 15 August 2018. The common types of corruption are abuse of office, bribery, embezzlement of Zimra funds, extortion, facilitating tax evasion, facilitating smuggling, fraud, failure to account for accumulation of assets. One of our officers was convicted in August 2018 and is serving 20 months out of a sentence of 30 months for abuse of office,” said Mr Ndoro.
Mr Ndoro revealed that the national tax collector has implemented numerous measures to weed out corruption within its rank and file.
“Zimra has an anti-corruption strategy that calls upon every member of staff and our stakeholders to work together in the fight against corruption. Some of the measures pursued by the organisation include: enforcing declaration of assets by staff, conducting lifestyle audits for all staff to ensure they account for accumulation of assets over time. Investigation of reported cases of corruption and taking necessary disciplinary action or having the suspects prosecuted and carrying out anti-corruption campaigns to the public,” he said.
He urged members of the public to report any suspected acts of corruption involving any member of the Zimra stuff using the tax collector’s hotline numbers.
“There is a Toll-free Hotline which is managed by an independent service provider for anonymous reporting of corruption levelled against Zimra officials. We encourage members of the public to report directly to the office of the commissioner General at ZB centre or make anonymous reports on toll free numbers 0808 190; 0732 880 880; WhatsApp number 0772 135 690,” said Mr Ndoro.
He added: “The Authority is also collaborating with the Judiciary on forfeiture of assets from Zimra staff in instances where the staff is investigated for failure to account for accumulation of personal assets and it is proven that the assets were acquired with proceeds of corruption.”
Zimra remains committed to curbing corruption as it strives to encourage voluntary compliance and gain taxpayer confidence in the services that it provides.
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