Maravi

Illegalities have caught up with Dora, Rupiah - Harrington

Illegalities have caught up with Dora, Rupiah - Harrington
By Kombe Chimpinde
Mon 21 Nov. 2011, 13:59 CAT

WILLIAM Harrington says the law must take its course on those that influenced the illegal sale of Zamtel.

Reacting to the findings of the Sebastian Zulu-led commission of inquiry over the sale of Zamtel, in an interview, Harrington, a former transport and communication minister, said LAP Green of Libya, the company that holds 75 per cent stake in Zamtel, must pay the full price of the firm, failure to which the company must be forfeited to the state.

He said the government must immediately seize the optic fiber belonging to Zesco, which was included as part of the total assets of Zamtel that were sold at a give-away price.

"Government needs to do an inventory to show the buyers the true value of the firm, and if they refuse to pay, the company should then be forfeited to the state," he said.

Harrington said that it was a relief to Zambians that illegalities perpetrated in the sale of Zamtel by former education minister Dora Siliya and president Rupiah Banda, who strongly supported her, had now caught up with them.

Recently, when she appeared before the Sebastian Zulu-led inquiry, Siliya said that the sale of Zamtel was not an individual undertaking but a government one.

"It was a great pity that she refused to make her submissions before the inquiry. The irregularities that were involved in the sale of Zamtel have caught up with her. This commission has put the last nail in the coffin of the scam on Zamtel and I hope that the law shall be applied," he said.

"We are not yet privy to the findings of the commission but what I can say is there is nothing new this (Sebastian Zulu) commission has established as compared to the Dennis Chirwa-led tribunal but I respect the work of the Sebastian Zulu-led commission and the Dennis Chirwa-led tribunal. They did a thorough investigation over Zamtel. This commission has established the actual valuation, which did not come up in the tribunal."

Harrington said Zambians did not welcome the sale because it was sold at a give-away price.

"The whole procedure of the sale of Zamtel was illegal and pregnant with irregularities. Having received the report, we expected the president (Rupiah Banda) to act on the report; instead he sat on it. Now the thing is, the law must be applied fairly," he said.

Harrington, together with a consortium of NGOs, in 2009 petitioned Chief Justice Ernest Sakala over the valuation contract awarded to RP Capital of Cayman Island, leading to the setting up of the Dennis Chirwa-led tribunal that established that Siliya breached the Constitution when she disregarded legal advice of the Attorney General over the sale of Zamtel.

Zulu on Thursday handed over his commission's report to President Michael Sata, who promised to take the matter to Cabinet. Zulu highlighted irregularities in the Zamtel transaction.

He said the technical committee of the commission had established that the sale of Zamtel by the Zambia Development Agency was hastily done and that LAP Green failed to satisfy at least three of the procurement requirements and that it was shocking that they were awarded the tender.

He also reported that RP Capital, the firm that was engaged to valuate the assets of Zamtel was illegally appointed to do the work and that it irregularly undervalued the assets of the country's biggest telecommunication company.

Labels: DORA SILIYA, LAP GREEN, RUPIAH BANDA, WILLIAM HARRINGTON, ZAMTEL

posted by MrK @ 8:33 PM