MDC Alliance legislator Tendai Biti who chairs the Public Accounts Portfolio (PAC) in parliament has said treasury between 2015 and 2018 used about US$10.6 billion outside the national budget, without seeking approval from parly.
The matter came to light during a parliamentary hearing on public accounts in which the former Finance and Economic Development Minister (during GNU era) said:
_The over expenditure by the Finance ministry was a massive invasion of the Constitution. This was outside the allocated budget. This is a deficit on top of a deficit. Very abnormal. These amounts are extraordinary. Treasury now fully appreciates the expectations of PAC, in particular the need to bring this Financial Adjustment Bill to closure._
The Harare-based lawyer Biti reportedly called the treasury’s spending of US$10.6 billion “abnormal finances outside the budget allocation.”
The spending reportedly continued even after Auditor-General Mildred Chiri had exposed the over-expenditure in her reports.
NewZimbabwe reports that some of the expenditure is directly linked or indirectly linked to the Command Agriculture that reportedly gobbled above US$3 billion and still produced no tangible results.
More: New Zimbabwe