POLICE yesterday reacted angrily to claims by Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) commissioner-general Gershem Pasi that the law-enforcement agents were collecting and retaining between $3 million and $7 million per month at roadblocks, describing the claims as false.
Staff Reporter
In a statement, Police Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said Pasi’s “utterance is a big falsehood which is intended to whip public emotions against police in pursuance of an obvious agenda”.
Pasi on Monday told Parliament that the police and Zimbabwe National Roads Authority (Zinara) were supposed to hand over all the money they collected to Treasury, adding that the current arrangement where the two institutions kept the money was “susceptible to abuse”.
But Charamba said the police’s decision to retain money collected through spot fines for traffic offences had been authorised by Treasury.
“The Treasury authority has directed us to retain spot fines for traffic offences only, while all other fines for various offences are going straight into the fiscus. Gershem Pasi is ignorant that the accounts are also tabled before Parliament and all the money collected by the police under the retention scheme is subject to external and internal audit by relevant authorities in government just like anybody else (sic).”
She added: “Police officers on tour of duty away from their homes are given travelling and subsistence allowances just like any other government employee who is away on duty from their normal work stations. No single cent goes into any police officers’ personal pocket.”
Charamba accused Pasi of attempting to divert public attention from his “failures” to meet government revenue targets by blaming the police.
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“Pasi is given a task by government which he is failing to perform, hence his blame to cushion his failure. The monthly retentions have never exceeded $1 million per month and not the dream figures of Gershem Pasi.
“In any case, not all vehicles and drivers are subject to fines except those offenders and the figures fluctuate on a monthly basis. It is surprising that the Zimbabwe Republic Police is not the only department on retention scheme as several departments are also operating the same scheme. Pasi and his Zimra are on the retention scheme and were on the forefront before the Zimbabwe Republic Police even started,” she said.
