The Government Gazette, published by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, yesterday invited companies to tender for the forensic audit at CEDA. There will also be a parallel forensic audit for the CEDA Venture Capital Fund (CVCF). The audit will cover the period from April 2005 to March 2011 and examine the full mandate and operations of both CEDA ad CVCF, covering areas such as agribusiness, property & manufacturing, services and structured finance/CEDA Venture Capital, including projects that are approved at CEDA branch level. The forensic audit is sure to open a Pandora's box, as it will among other issues, analyse all loan approvals and disbursements that have been made from January 2005 up to March 2011, with particular reference to shareholding, directorships, and amounts involved.
The forensic report will also determine whether the requisite project appraisal procedures were followed as well as the truthfulness of the declarations of interest. According to the terms of reference sourced by Mmegi, since April 2010, when CEDA was transferred from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the ministry has noted with great concern, the high number of complaints reported by CEDA clients.
