News / National
Medical scheme in graft accusations
28 Nov 2023 at 09:19hrs | Views
Medical Aid Society Central Africa (MASCA) has been accused of mismanagement amid indications its reserved funds were sitting at zero.
It is said that three top management officials are accused of running down the company after taking charge of the Information technology system.
"IT and others are supposed to be supporting arms, however, at MASCA, three people (names supplied) run the show. Ever since the trio came on board, MASCA has since been run like an accounting firm or rather like a tuckshop. One of them usurped all powers and left the current Chief Executive officer a mere passenger," sources said.
The source said an interesting point to note is that whenever strategists aim to loot in an organisation, they frustrate all the key and experienced manpower and create confusion to create a fertile ground for looting.
The source noted that out of the many workers that left MASCA between January and April this year, three quarters were frustrated and left at virtually zero gratuity despite serving the company for between 20 to 30 years, this also affected the former CEO who was also hounded out of the company.
The sources said in the last quarter of 2022, MASCA had forex reserves of about US$3m which was deposited with Fawcett Security Company for safekeeping and could not be deposited with banks for fear of liquidation at official exchange rates.
They said the drawdown against the fund were to be done periodically through the black market to supposedly keep the organisation afloat financially.
Sources said large ZW$ sums were deposited into MASCA bank accounts from big corporations each time a trade was effected.
They noted that such deposits were accounted for in MASCA books at official exchange rates prevalent, adding that some MASCA executives secured various properties as would be evidenced through the Deeds Registry Offices.
MASCA allegedly changed the IT system from MEDCARE to SMARTMED authored by a company called AE company and were paid about US$100 000 in cash.
These were paid through MASCA books in the form of a loan from a local bank resulting in laundering.
The reports say the new system SMARTMED was launched on April 1 after they had shut down MEDCARE.
It is stated that AE tried to implement their new system on a consultancy basis at a fee.
Revelations were that according to monthly requisitions, they were supposedly paid US$20 000 monthly but only got US$2 000 instead.
"Upon this realisation following a tip off, AE packed their bags and left. The system has since been rendered unusable and shelved. Surprisingly, nobody has been held accountable for the mess," said the source close.
Reports indicate that Masca is now facing challenges ranging from failure to capture claims, no accurate record of membership, no accurate billing system and the company reserve funds sitting on zero reserves.
Efforts to get a comment from the Chief Executive Officer Douglas Bramsen were fruitless.
It is said that three top management officials are accused of running down the company after taking charge of the Information technology system.
"IT and others are supposed to be supporting arms, however, at MASCA, three people (names supplied) run the show. Ever since the trio came on board, MASCA has since been run like an accounting firm or rather like a tuckshop. One of them usurped all powers and left the current Chief Executive officer a mere passenger," sources said.
The source said an interesting point to note is that whenever strategists aim to loot in an organisation, they frustrate all the key and experienced manpower and create confusion to create a fertile ground for looting.
The source noted that out of the many workers that left MASCA between January and April this year, three quarters were frustrated and left at virtually zero gratuity despite serving the company for between 20 to 30 years, this also affected the former CEO who was also hounded out of the company.
The sources said in the last quarter of 2022, MASCA had forex reserves of about US$3m which was deposited with Fawcett Security Company for safekeeping and could not be deposited with banks for fear of liquidation at official exchange rates.
They said the drawdown against the fund were to be done periodically through the black market to supposedly keep the organisation afloat financially.
Sources said large ZW$ sums were deposited into MASCA bank accounts from big corporations each time a trade was effected.
They noted that such deposits were accounted for in MASCA books at official exchange rates prevalent, adding that some MASCA executives secured various properties as would be evidenced through the Deeds Registry Offices.
MASCA allegedly changed the IT system from MEDCARE to SMARTMED authored by a company called AE company and were paid about US$100 000 in cash.
These were paid through MASCA books in the form of a loan from a local bank resulting in laundering.
The reports say the new system SMARTMED was launched on April 1 after they had shut down MEDCARE.
It is stated that AE tried to implement their new system on a consultancy basis at a fee.
Revelations were that according to monthly requisitions, they were supposedly paid US$20 000 monthly but only got US$2 000 instead.
"Upon this realisation following a tip off, AE packed their bags and left. The system has since been rendered unusable and shelved. Surprisingly, nobody has been held accountable for the mess," said the source close.
Reports indicate that Masca is now facing challenges ranging from failure to capture claims, no accurate record of membership, no accurate billing system and the company reserve funds sitting on zero reserves.
Efforts to get a comment from the Chief Executive Officer Douglas Bramsen were fruitless.
Source - Byo24News
