BY UCHIZI MBANGE
Government chief legal counsel Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda has said his office has began work to recover Higher Education Students’ Loans and Grants Board’s (HESLGB) K1.1 billion which was dubiously disbursed to ghost beneficiaries at Millennium University between the 2019-2020 academic year.
“My office is working on recovering the money from those that benefited from the arrangement,” Nyirenda told the press on Monday.
He also said the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) has also been instructed to commence legal action against those involved in the fraud.
Both HESLGB executive director Prince Phwetekere and Board chairperson Henry Chingaipe confirmed instituting a forensic report and presenting the investigative report to relevant authorities.
“Our documents were submitted to AG and OPC [Office of the President and Cabinet],” Chingaipe said.
Among others, the report indicates, out of K1.3 billion that was disbursed by HESLB, K1.1 billion was disbursed dubiously.
The wasted resources represent 90 percent of the amount that poor students were supposed to get.
The report further indicates that 14 percent was irregularly claimed by universities between 2018 and 2019.
The report uncovers that one unregistered university [name withheld] benefitted from the suspicious payments.
The report states that K590 million was given to the university in question during the time it was not yet registered.
