A FORENSIC audit into the purchase of Covid-19 materials and medical supplies has commenced, with Cabinet ministers being warned against interfering with procurement in parastatals under their purview.

Auditors from the Office of the Auditor-General have started the audit, which is expected to open a can of worms.

Auditor-General Mrs Mildred Chiri told The Sunday Mail on Friday that although the audit was still in its preliminary stages, her team was busy examining documents related to procurement of medical supplies.

Documents under scrutiny were obtained from various Government departments.

This comes after President Mnangagwa announced that a special forensic investigation would be done to weed out malcontents and impediments to achieving Vision 2030.

The President told the third principals’ executive plenary meeting of the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) in the capital recently that Government would investigate and take swift action against corrupt officials.

Said Mrs Chiri: “The forensic audit has started and we are using our own internal auditors. We are looking at the available documentation to see what was done right or wrong.”

The Auditor-General could not put timelines to the process.

“For now, it’s difficult to tell how long this process will take because new issues may arise from the documents as the investigation goes on. We might have to look at a lot of issues than expected, so we have to work on it first.”

Mrs Chiri has been hailed for the first-rate work, particularly the thorough annual Auditor-General’s report which has exposed rot, inefficiencies and incompetence in public institutions.

The procurement of medical supplies has claimed the scalps of many high-profile officials. It has seen the arrest and subsequent sacking of former Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo over his role in a murky US$60 million deal with a questionable medical supplier, Drax International.

Dr Moyo is on $50 000 bail, while a local representative of Drax International, Mr Delish Nguwaya, was charged on corruption allegations.

A number of managers from the National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm) have either been arrested, fired or suspended as well.

NatPharm employees — Flora Sifeku, Rolland Mlalazi and Charles Mwaramba — were arrested early this month on allegations of flouting procurement regulations.

The Second Republic has declared war against corruption, which was deeply embedded and institutionalised for many years.