Maravi

Mumba urges Task Force, ACC to expedite Alstom SA contract probe

Mumba urges Task Force, ACC to expedite Alstom SA contract probe
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe

ENERGY permanent secretary Peter Mumba yesterday asked the Task Force on Corruption and ACC to expedite investigations into suspected corruption in the award of a contract to Alstom SA by Zesco Limited.

And Mumba said his complaints last March about the slow pace at which Alstom SA was carrying out rehabilitation works at Kariba North Bank power station was not done out of suspicion but was a genuine concern.

In an interview, Mumba said there was need to ensure that all cases that involved alleged corrupt tendencies were pursued to the bottom because it was difficult to ascertain to what extent they negatively affected the country.

Mumba, however, refused to comment further on the matter saying the ministry was waiting to get the outcome of the investigations from the Task Force on Corruption and ACC.

“Yes I complained when we went to Siavonga about the slow pace and the company involved was Alstom but my complaint was not that I was suspecting anything but just because of the reports I was getting,” Mumba said. “But of course Zesco came to their defence and brought the issue of funding and you remember we pushed government to make available US $50 million which Zesco said was a shortfall. For now, we just need to encourage the relevant investigating wings to speed up their work so that we get to the bottom of the problem.”

Mumba last week wrote to the two anti-graft institutions, urging them to investigate Alstom’s reported investigation for fraud by the Swiss Criminal Court for alleged involvement in fraud after it was reported in The Post.

And last Saturday, Task Force on Corruption executive chairman Maxwell Nkole confirmed that a docket had been opened following the complaint from the permanent secretary (Mumba).

“We are working with our sister departments as well as foreign counterparts and we will only comment after preliminaries are established,” said Nkole.

Alstom SA is alleged to have paid US $1 million in bribes to a Zambian official and that between January 2001 and April 2003, the French engineering company is suspected to have given bribes of around one million euros (about US $1. 25 million), sent via different offshore companies to an official in Zambia.

Labels: ACC, ALSTROM SA, PETER MUMBA, TASK FORCE, ZESCO

posted by MrK @ 6:49 AM