US$13 MILLION MISSING AT ZIMPAPERS IN SHOCKING FRAUD CASE

There is a big problem at Zimbabwe Newspapers (Zimpapers) 1980 Ltd. Zimpapers is the biggest and oldest media company in Zimbabwe. It is owned by the government. Now there is a big scandal because US$13 million is missing. This money cannot be explained properly. No one knows where it went.

This shocking news came out after an internal audit was done at Zimpapers. An audit is when people check company records to see how money was used. The audit found that US$13 million might have been stolen or used in a corrupt way. There are fears of fraud, mismanagement, and corruption.

Because of this, the Zimpapers board has now decided that there must be a forensic audit. This is a deeper investigation to find out exactly what happened to the money. If this money had been used correctly, it could have helped Zimpapers a lot. The company is struggling financially like many other media companies in Zimbabwe.

Zimpapers is trying to change and improve its operations. It is doing a digital transformation. This means it wants to use new technology and methods to produce news and content. But for that to happen, the company needs a lot of money and resources. Now this scandal makes things even worse.

The missing money was discovered last week Wednesday. The Zimpapers board told the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Jenfan Muswere, about the missing money. They met him at Munhumutapa Building, the office of the president.

A board member who attended the meeting told The NewsHawks what happened. The board gave the minister the audit report. During the meeting, it was found that US$13 million was not properly accounted for. The board suspects that there was misappropriation of funds, fraud, and corruption.

Some people in Zimpapers said the money was used for broadcasting projects, like Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN). But there is a problem. The equipment for ZTN was said to cost US$4 million. But when the audit checked, the equipment was only worth about US$1 million. This leaves a big question: Where did the rest of the money go?

This is why a forensic audit is now needed. It will look closely into how the money was used and where it really went.

There is another problem. Some of the former top managers at Zimpapers want to be paid US$1.3 million in exit packages. These are payments for leaving the company. But the minister and the board said the forensic audit must be done first before any money is paid to these managers.

These former managers were removed from their jobs in January. They are Pikirayi Deketeke (Group CEO), Farai Matanhire (Chief Finance Officer), and Tapuwa Mandimutsira (Chief Marketing Officer). They were sent on forced leave. Reports said they had refused to allow the audit to happen while they were still in office.

After they were removed, the audit went ahead. The results were then given to the minister last week.

Now, Zimpapers has new acting bosses. William Chikoto is the acting Group CEO. Annah Kufakunesu is the acting Chief Finance Officer.

Zimpapers owns many newspapers in Zimbabwe like The Herald, The Chronicle, B-Metro, and H-Metro. It also owns radio stations like Star FM, Capital FM, and Diamond FM. The company is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and the government owns 51% of it through the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust.

This is a very serious case. The forensic audit will show the truth about the missing US$13 million. Many people are waiting to see what will happen next.