Maravi

(LUSAKATIMES) Siliya mute as she appears before commission of inquiry

Siliya mute as she appears before commission of inquiry
TIME PUBLISHED - Saturday, October 29, 2011, 11:59 am

Former Communications and Transport minister Dora Siliya and her lawyer Sakwiba Sikota make submissions to the commission of inquiry on the sale of Zamtel in Lusaka

EMBATTLED former Minister of Transport and Communications Dora Siliya yesterday appeared before the Commission of Inquiry into the sale of Zamtel and Finance Bank but opted not to say anything on all allegations levelled against her during the submissions.

Ms Siliya, 41, of 411 Independence Avenue and clad in a red suit arrived at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in the company of her lawyer Sakwiba Sikota and informed the tribunal led by Commission chairperson, Sebastian Zulu that there were no irregularity in the sale of Zamtel.

Ms Siliya who spoke through her lawyer said she would not commit herself to any statement because the said allegations especially by Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) would be subjudice.

“ Everything she has to say is already on record so there is nothing more to add except to refer this commission to all the court proceedings.

“Since these allegations by TIZ persist notwithstanding the fact that courts of competent jurisdiction have adjudicated over the same, our client will not commit herself to any statement as these matters are subjudice,” said Mr Sikota.

He said Ms Siliya appeared before the tribunal where the same allegations by TIZ were tested after considering together with the evidence and made its findings which were contained in a detailed report submitted to the former Republican Rupiah Banda on April 16 in 2009.

Mr Sikota said her client had elected to refer the commission to visit the records of all the aforesaid matters which were public documents and were available at the courts, Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) and the Ministry of Justice.

He said after Ms Siliya was cleared by the High Court, TIZ appealed to the Supreme Court addressing the same allegations and in turn the Supreme Court also cleared his client and wondered why TIZ decided to raise the same allegations.

A Mr Francis Chilumba who referred to himself a ‘Patriotic Zambian’ claimed Ms Siliya had been mislead by her lawyer not to personally defend herself because she was the one who signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with RP Capital to evaluate the sale of Zamtel.

Mr Chilumba claimed that Ms Siliya allowed the under evaluation of Zamtel which was supposed to be sold at over US$1 billion and not the actual price which was US$257 and urged the commission to ensure that they see RP Capital evaluation report before coming up with a final report.

And the commission earlier advised Ms Siliya not to feel intimidated to represent herself because the commission was set to get more information on the sale of Zamtel and not for people to feel as if they were being tried in the court of law but to allow them to defend themselves once mentioned.

Labels: CORRUPTION, DORA SILIYA, SAKWIBA SIKOTA, ULP, ZAMTEL

posted by MrK @ 9:25 PM