It could take a while before the Institute of Certified Accountants takes action on one of its own despite rising cases of fraud and unethical behaviour among its members.
Icpak chairman Fernandes Baraza and CEO Patrick Ngumi yesterday issued conflicting reports on Uchumi. Baraza said he would issue a statement on disciplinary and hearing process for two Uchumi managers on Friday, despite not being sure “whether the institute had received the forensic audit report”.
CEO Ngumi on his part said the institute received the report in February and forwarded it to its disciplinary committee for perusal.
“The committee as you know is a statutory committee, and as such I may not have much detail on the progress it has made,” added Ngumi.
He says the disciplinary committee has already asked Uchumi’s former CEO Jonathan Ciano and chief finance officer Chadwick Okumu to furnish it with their side of the story.
The committee does not have a chairman after the resignation of Ciano from the post on February 26, following implication in fraud cases at the supermarket.
“We want a fully constituted committee; all that the institute can do is nominate names,” Ngumi told the Star in an interview. “The Treasury will then appoint and gazette the new chairman.”
Ngumi, however, said lack of a chairman will not in any way affect the ongoing process, adding it still has quorum to handle hearings.
Yesterday, Icpak also defended auditors, a day after the CID department said it would also probe the role of Deloitte as external auditors of National Bank and Chase Bank. Eight managers of the two banks are under investigation following reports of massive fraud in loan disbursement leading to major losses and closure of Chase Bank.
Ngumi said the sole responsibility of ensuring proper financial reporting lies with a firm’s board of directors and the management.