Maravi

Chiluba knows where the $7.8m for Carlington maize lies - Nkole

Chiluba knows where the $7.8m for Carlington maize lies - Nkole
By Mwila Chansa
Friday May 02, 2008 [04:01]

ZAMBIANS expect co-operation from former president Frederick Chiluba to recover their money and not celebration just because some donors have temporarily not funded us, Task Force on Corruption chairperson Max Nkole has said. Commenting on Chiluba’s statement that the Task Force was surviving on an expired mandate and that its support from all parties including cooperating partners was diminishing, Nkole explained that some donors had still continued assisting the Task Force.

“Following the expiry of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 31st June 2007, the donors made some demands to government as a condition for them to continue funding the Task Force. The government then promised to look into those demands that included the future of the Task Force and its mandate,” Nkole said.

He said the government promised to look into those demands but in the meantime, some donors have suspended their funding until their demands were met.

However, Nkole said some individual donor countries had continued rendering support to the Task Force although the government had to bear the bigger burden of running its operations since the expiry of the MoU. He said donors had promised to come back on board to continue their support to the fight against corruption in whatever form or strategy put in place by the government.

And Nkole said Chiluba had never cooperated with the Task Force.
“He knows everything about the Carlington maize, yet he declined to answer questions,” Nkole said.

He further said Chiluba and his Iranian associate Ari Ben Menashe knew where the US $7.8 million lay.

“The guilty are afraid, he and his associate the Iranian Ari Ben Menashe know where the US $7.8 million lies. There is nothing wrong with our attempt to trace and recover Zambian public funds; we expect his assistance which he has denied us. LAZ gave him timely advice,” said Nkole.

But Chiluba’s spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba said Chiluba did not co-operate with the Task Force because they were recording a warn and caution statement from him as opposed to being interviewed on the matter.

“When you are being warned and cautioned, you can either say something in reply or say nothing at all. That is a legal provision,” Mwamba said. “When time comes for Dr Chiluba to say something in his defence, he will not fail to defend himself.”

And Nkole said the Task Force’s doors were still open for Chiluba to give a statement on the Carlington maize deal if he so wished. He said warn and caution statements were requirements of the law and that the Task Force would not have proceeded into getting an ordinary statement from Chiluba who was a principal suspect.

Recently, when summoned to appear before the Task Force over Carlington, Chiluba was reported to have evaded questions.
And in reaction to LAZ president Elijah Banda who advised him to use the Carlington maize deal investigations to prove his innocence instead of being uncooperative, Chiluba urged Banda not to use the noble platform of LAZ to prop up the image of the Task Force.

He said it had become public knowledge that the Task Force was surviving on an expired mandate and that their support from all parties, including cooperating partners had diminished.

Chiluba said in its quest to maintain its relevance to revive its role and extend its mandate, the Task Force was now trying to whip up public emotion with sensational and high sounding cases such as the Carlington maize deal.

Labels: CHILUBA, CORRUPTION, MAIZE

posted by MrK @ 5:47 AM