Maravi

Sata accuses Levy’s aide of money laundering

Sata accuses Levy’s aide of money laundering
By Amos Malupenga
Tuesday March 13, 2007 [02:00]

Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata has accused President Levy Mwanawasa's principal private secretary Alfred Chipoya of engaging in corruption and money laundering. But President Mwanawasa's special assistant for legal affairs Darlington Mwape dismissed Sata's allegations as incorrect and grossly misleading. In a letter to President Mwanawasa dated March 7, 2007, Sata stated that when he met PF councillors at Lusaka's Pamodzi Hotel on March 1, he praised him and endorsed his swift action to curb corruption in the Ministry of Lands by dropping Reverend Gladys Nyirongo as minister.

"I have never supported your pronouncements about the fight against corruption because the nation and myself were of the impression that your fight against corruption was selective," Sata stated. "With the boldness you have shown in the matter of Rev Gladys Nyirongo, I wish as a way of supporting your case, to report to you a serious corruption and money laundering by one of your officers at State House by the name of Alfred Chipoya."

Sata proceeded to state that on August 2, 2006 Chipoya withdrew K750 million from Finance Bank's Corporate Branch in Lusaka while on August 9 he withdrew K1.7 billion. On August 31, 2006, Sata stated that Chipoya withdrew about K2, 256, 100, 000 while on September 1 he withdrew K1 billion, making a total of K5.7 billion.

"Your Excellency, the above amounts are extremely high for a mere State House assistant to handle within a period of 30 days," Sata stated. "I am therefore requesting you with your new approach towards corruption to investigate and inform the nation what action you shall take."

But in response to a press query sent to Chipoya, Darlington Mwape yesterday stated: "Refer to your letter of March 10, 2007 to Mr Alfred Chipoya in respect of the above matter and in regard to the letter of the Patriotic Front president Mr Michael Sata to His Excellency Mr Levy P. Mwanawasa, SC.

"Your said letter and that of Mr Sata have been passed on to me with instructions to respond to the issues raised therein. From the outset, I wish to state that the suggestions of corruption and money laundering are not only incorrect but grossly misleading. Prior to the tripartite elections, the President had publicly announced to the nation that all MMD parliamentary candidates would receive financial support for purposes of campaigns.

"It is not a secret that the candidates were given financial resources. Unlike other presidential candidates at the time, His Excellency was very open about this matter. The monies drawn by Mr Chipoya on the occasions in issue amounted to K4,078,050, 000 and not K5,706,100,000.

"Those funds were drawn from the private account of the President held at Finance Bank and were raised from private sources for purposes of campaigns and were fully disbursed to MMD candidates."

Mwape stated that these facts did not disclose any corruption or money laundering as there were no facts to the effect that the funds were corruptly raised or earned from illegal activities.

"It is a notorious fact that all political parties had raised financial resources for their campaign programmes. There is nothing illegal per se in so far as those funds are earned legitimately," Mwape stated. "I wish to confirm on behalf of the President that all funds he raised for campaigns were legally raised. I wish to further confirm that the funds drawn by Mr Chipoya were drawn at the instance of the President. I am confident that this is sufficient and reasonable explanation to the allegations referred to in the letters under response.

"Clearly, there has been a neglect of fiduciary duty on the part of Finance Bank in having such confidential information released to a third party and by copy of this letter, the President demands an explanation from Finance Bank on how such information was availed to a third party."

Labels: CORRUPTION, MWANAWASA, SATA

posted by MrK @ 6:47 AM