Kunda wrote letter over Varun tax
TIME PUBLISHED - Thursday, February 9, 2012, 11:00 am
FORMER Republican vice-president George Kunda allegedly wrote a letter to former Finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane objecting to the decision to award a tax deferment facility to Varun beverages, it has emerged.
Mr Kunda, in his letter a few days before former president Rupiah Banda summoned a meeting at State House on March 15, advised that companies that wanted a tax holiday should arrange with the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA).
He had contended in the letter that a “face-less” tax deferment was illegal. Mr Kunda was also Justice minister at the time.
Sources said when he appeared before a team of law enforcement officers, Mr Kunda was asked to read the letter and confirmed that he authored it because it was his duty.
A letter from Mr Banda to Dr Musokotwane in April 2010 directing the ministry to facilitate the awarding of tax holiday was written after Mr Kunda’s advice against the deferment facility.
The former president’s letter has, however, allegedly disappeared from the Ministry of Finance in unexplained circumstances.
The special combined team of security personnel investigating allegations of corruption has attempted in vain to trace the letter dated April 24, 2010.
The letter was a follow up to a meeting that allegedly took place at State House on March 15, 2010 called by Mr Banda in which he allegedly asked Dr Musokotwane to ensure that the tax holiday was granted.
Those who attended the State House meeting included Dr Musokotwane, former Commerce minister Felix Mutati, and Mr Kunda.
Others were Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) Director-General Andrew Chipwende and former chief budget analyst in charge of tax revenue who is now director of economic management, Felix Nkulukusa.
In an interview in Lusaka on Tuesday, Mr Chipwende said he was just called to attend the State House meeting and could not discuss the matter in detail.
“We do not operate like that. I was called to that meeting and what is said is for the Government and not for the public,” Mr Chipwende said.
Mr Kunda declined to comment on the matter saying it would be hard for him because a warn and caution statement had been recorded from Dr Musokotwane.
Value Added Tax (VAT) is not on the list of taxes available for deferment to companies according to the Zambia Development Agency Act (ZDA), but was offered to Varun.
[Times of Zambia]
Labels: ANDREW CHIPWENDE, CORRUPTION, FELIX MUTATI, GEORGE KUNDA, MMD, SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE, VAT
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Zambia Development Agency asked to clear air on ZAMTEL
TIME PUBLISHED - Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 8:25 pm
The National Union of Communications Workers – NUCW has challenged the Zambia Development Agency -ZDA- to clear the air on the intricacies surrounding the sale of ZAMTEL to lap green of Libya.
The union is concerned with latest unconfirmed media reports that the sale of the telecoms firm might have been marred by irregularities. NUCW President Patrick Kaonga told ZNBC News on Tuesday that the nation needs to be put in a clear picture on the sell of ZAMTEL and not rely on mere speculation.
And when reached for a comment, ZDA Director General Andrew Chipwende says it will be premature to comment on the matter as government has already intimated that cabinet will soon make a decision on the sale.
Mr. Kaonga says his union has tried to meet ZDA management over the matter but the meeting has failed to materialize.
He says the sale of ZAMTEL to lap green may have serious implications on the future of the telecommunication firm in the wake of unfolding revelations.
Last week the commission constituted by President Michael Sata to scrutinize the sale of ZAMTEL to Lap green established that the transaction was illegal and fraudulent.
Labels: ANDREW CHIPWENDE, CORRUPTION, NUCW, PATRICK KAONGA, ZAMTEL, ZDA
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Mwembeshi to be part of Zamtel sale
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Fri 23 Oct. 2009, 04:00 CAT
MWEMBESHI earth station, the country's avenue to the International gateway, is set for privatisation as eight foreign firms eye Zamtel, Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) director general Andrew Chipwende disclosed yesterday.
And Chipwende has asserted that the sale of Zamtel is above government interference, playing down concerns by most Zambians that the controversial processes would be marred by irregularities and corrupt tendencies emanating from government influence.
The eight companies that have prequalified to participate in the purchase of between 51 per cent to 75 per cent of Zamtel included South Africa's Telkom, Africa's biggest fixed-line operator, a consortium of Libya's LAP Greencom and LAP Green Networks, two Indian state-run telecoms companies, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
Others are a consortium of Russia's second-biggest mobile phone operator Vimpelcom and Altimo, the telecoms arm of Russia's Alfa Group; a consortium of Egypt's Orascom Telecom and its subsidiary Telecel Globe; Angola's Unitel - a consortium of Unitel S.A and Angola Cables S.A; Portugal Telecom.
In an interview after ZDA officially announced the eight companies, Chipwende said all the assets of Zamtel would be sold.
He said the only property under the control of Zamtel which would be excluded from the privatisation process was the International Gateway as it was a regulatory issue controlled by the Communications Authority (CA).
“What we are selling are shares, which means all obligations and all assets and all liabilities of Zamtel remain with Zamtel,” Chipwende said. “Nothing is broken up…nothing is being broken up and all the assets…be, motor vehicles, if it's the satellites, optic fibre, the mobile operations, the fixed lines, the employees and everything remains with Zamtel. All contracts that they (Zamtel) have entered into…borrowings, remains with Zamtel. Nothing is being taken out.”
And Chipwende parried the widespread fears and misgivings that the privatisation of Zamtel was likely to be marred in gross irregularities, a semblance of what has happened with the post-privatisation era of Ghana Telecom.
The post-privatisation era of Ghana Telecom had been embroiled in politically-motivated mud-slinging and alleged corrupt activities with leaked reports accusing Vodafone of underpaying for its stake and the new government of John Atta Mills claiming that Ghanaian people did not get value for money.
But Chipwende claimed the privatisation of Zamtel would be done purely within the ZDA Act, devoid of government interference in the process where RP Capital of the Cayman Islands are the official transaction advisors.
“The ZDA board remains in charge of the process. They will select who will be the winning bidder, select who to enter into negotiations with. The law provides that ZDA board itself appoints the negotiating team,” Chipwende said. “There is nowhere in the Act where you find the mention of government. When the process has been negotiations, all we will do is to send final terms of negotiated to the Minister of Finance and again the ZDA Act is quite clear …it doesn't even say the Minister of Finance may sign or may not approve of what we have given to him. The law is very clear, it says the Minister of Finance' shall announce.”
Chipwende said ZDA had enough legal protection entrenched in the Act to shield the Agency from political interference.
“…I can confidently walk to the Minister of Finance's office with the final agreements after they have been approved by the Attorney General, of course, and order him to sign and he is going to sign because I have got the law to back me up,” Chipwende said. “The ZDA Act, in our case, we have a provision that requires us to publish in the government gazette the names and the prices of each and every bidder. And because people don't read gazette, we publish all the details in the press because people read the press.”
Chipwende also ZDA would announce the reason for the preferred company as required by law on the selection of the winning bidder.
“We don't have to justify why we rejected somebody but we have to justify why we selected a particular bidder and have that gazetted and announced as well,” said Chipwende. “So, it is a very transparent process that you are going to see and there are laws that provide for that. So, we are not too concerned with what is happening in other countries because if you look at the Zambian case, probably in terms of the legal and regulatory framework governing privatisation, it is among the best in the world.”
The long-planned privatisation of Zamtel has been criticised by opposition politicians, who say Zambians should hold a bigger stake in the company.
Zamtel's revenue for the year to end-December was US $100 million. It is Zambia's only licensed fixed-line provider of voice and data communications.
Labels: ANDREW CHIPWENDE, CORRUPTION, PRIVATISATION, ZAMTEL
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Eight investors to bid for ZAMTEL
Thursday, October 22, 2009, 16:00
Eight foreign investors have been shortlisted to bid for ZAMTEL assets. The companies have an option to buy 51 or 75 percent shareholding capacity.
Zambia Development Agency Director General ANDREW CHIPWENDE named the eight companies as Altimo holdings of Russia, BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED of India and LAP Greencom of LIBYA.
Others are MAHANAGAR TELEPHONE of india, Portugal Telecom, Telkom of South Africa, Orascom of Egypt and UNITEL a consortium from ANGOLA.
Mr CHIPWENDE said during the process of pre-qualification, ZDA received 30 expressions of interest in the Zamtel shares.
He said the ZDA is happy with the companies that have prequalified but noted that the next step will only take place in January 2010.
Government has floated 75 percent shares in the parastatal telecommunications firm, to make it more viable.
[ZNBC]
Labels: ANDREW CHIPWENDE, PRIVATISATION, ZAMTEL
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South Africa’s Telkom, seven others in race to buy Zamtel
By Sututu Katundu
Thu 22 Oct. 2009, 17:00 CAT
Andrew Chipwende, director general for Zambia Development Agency (ZDA)
EIGHT foreign companies, among them South Africa’s state-owned fixed line operator Telkom, have made the shortlist to purchase Zambia’s telecommunications company Zamtel.
This was confirmed at a briefing by Andrew Chipwende, director general for Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), a state unit tasked to handle the sale of the state owned telecommunications utility.
He named the eight companies that have pre-qualified to participate in the purchase of between 51 per cent to 75 per cent of Zamtel as South Africa's Telkom, Africa's biggest fixed-line operator, a consortium of Libya's LAP Greencom and LAP Green Networks, two Indian state-run telecoms companies, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam(MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
The rest are a consortium of Russia's second-biggest mobile phone operator Vimpelcom and Altimo, the telecoms arm of Russia's Alfa Group; a consortium of Egypt's Orascom Telecom and its subsidiary Telecel Globe; Angola's UNITEL — a consortium of Unitel S.A and Angola Cables S.A; Portugal Telecom.
Chipwende said all Zamtel assets would be sold except the International gateway, the only property under the control of Zamtel as it involved some regulatory issues to be ascertained by the Communications Authority of Zambia (CAZ).
He said government has always made it clear that this privatization will be handled under the provision of the ZDA Act hence the ZDA board remains in charge of the process.
“They will select who will be the winning bidder, select who to enter into negotiations with, the law provides that ZDA board itself appoints the negotiating team. There is nowhere in the Act where you find the mention of government,” Chipwende said, adding, “The law is very clear ‘it says the minister of finance’ shall announce.’”
He assured the nation that there would be no government interference in the sale of Zamtel.
Labels: ANDREW CHIPWENDE, PRIVATISATION, ZAMTEL, ZDA
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ZDA, RP Capital to handle Zamtel sale
Written by Kabanda Chulu
Thursday, September 17, 2009 12:25:56 AM
ZAMBIA Development Agency (ZDA) director general Andrew Chipwende yesterday announced that ZDA will be the main privatisation agent for Zamtel with RP Capital Advisors Limited as the financial advisor. Announcing the government's formal intention to offload 75 per cent shares in Zambia Telecommunication (Zamtel) Limited, Chipwende said in Lusaka that the ZDA would implement the privatisation of Zamtel with RP Capital Advisors Limited as its exclusive financial advisor relating to this transaction.
Chipwende said there was need to find financially stable entities with experience in telecommunications infrastructure development to buy the 75 per cent shares in Zamtel Limited.
"The reason why we have placed advertisements in the international media in countries such as China, India, Nigeria, South Africa, among others, is because we are looking at emerging markets that are growing with sound financial resources and vast experience in telecommunications infrastructure development and it's too early to state the response from bidders so far since the adverts started running yesterday," Chipwende said.
"So the government will sell 75 per cent equity interest in Zamtel and retain 25 per cent shares that will be sold in full or in part through an initial public offer on the Lusaka Stock Exchange and ZDA will be the main privatisation agent with RP Capital Advisors Limited being its financial advisor."
Chipwende said entities that were associated directly or indirectly with existing mobile phone operators in Zambia would be excluded from participating in the sale of Zamtel Limited. He explained that prospective bidders must meet certain conditions in order to pre-qualify upon payment of US $20,000 non-refundable administrative fees.
"Bidders must meet criteria such as a minimum five years of licensed operation in the telecommunications industry with more than three million active subscribers on fixed or mobile networks and a minimum market capitalisation of US $500 million for public listed entities while equity or private capital should have a minimum capitalisation of US $250 million," Chipwende said.
He said applications from consortium would be accepted but the lead member of the consortia must have no less than 50 per cent share in the consortium and should meet the criteria of having five years experience and more than three million subscribers while the other consortia members should jointly meet capitalisation requirements.
"Entities being owned or associated with existing mobile operators in Zambia either directly or indirectly will be excluded from prequalification directly or through consortia," said Chipwende.
Labels: ANDREW CHIPWENDE, NEOLIBERALISM, PRIVATISATION, ZAMTEL
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Zamtel is a monopoly, insists economist
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:17:44 AM
ZAMBIA Development Agency (ZDA) chief executive officer Andrew Chipwende is exhibiting a very poor understanding of competition issues by saying that Zamtel is not a monopoly,
UK-based economist Chola Mukanga has observed.
Reacting to Chipwende’s observation last week that Zamtel was not a monopoly, Mukanga said higher costs of entry into the international gateway (IGW), coupled with the political stance preventing emergence of alternative gateways were some of issues that made Zamtel have monopolistic control of the international avenue system.
Last week, Chipwende said Zamtel was not a monopoly and that any of the two mobile companies operating in the country could access the International gateway provided they paid the required statutory entry fee of US $12 million.
But Mukanga observed that in terms of distortion of competition, all the experts in the industry including the World Bank agreed that Zamtel distorts competition, beyond control of the gateway.
“Andrew (Chipwende) is exhibiting a very poor understanding of competition issues. It is true Zamtel is not a statutory monopoly because the gateway is liberalised,” Mukanga said.
“The point is that the higher cost of entry into the international gateway, coupled with the political stance preventing emergence of alternative gateways such as a quasi planning restraint - even if you can pay the IGW licence fee, the government is unwilling to give you the licence, prevents other players from emerging in the international segment market. This makes Zamtel a de-facto monopoly.
As for who "controls" the IGW, Chipwende would do well to familiarise himself with previous submissions from the Zambia Competition Commission (ZCC) like the 2003 submission to the Select Committee on Transport and Communication which stated that ‘the position of Zamtel means that it has the power to prevent, restrict or distort competitor access to this essential infrastructure such as the IGW which was built with public funds’.”
And Mukanga, who welcomed the government’s initiative to do a comprehensive evaluation of Zamtel and exploring partial privatization as one of the alternatives, urged the government not to just focus on Zamtel strategy saying there was need to come up with a holistic communication strategy for the country.
“The government needs to take a step back and ask tough questions about the communication industry and where Zamtel fits in, before proceeding with restructuring the parastatal. This should be done through formal conversations with Zambian infrastructure experts at home and abroad,” said Mukanga.
Chipwende last week said he did not agree that Zamtel was a monopoly because anyone could access the IGW, arguing that the Communications Authority (CA), and not Zamtel, controlled the IGW, adding that Zain Zambia and MTN Zambia’s failure to access the IGW was as a result of their failure to pay the reqired entry fee.
Labels: ANDREW CHIPWENDE, CHOLA MUKANGA, MONOPOLIES, ZAMTEL, ZDA
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Concerns over Zamtel privatisation are too early, says Chipwende
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Saturday, December 13, 2008 9:02:36 AM
CONCERNS being raised over the announced partial privatisation of Zamtel are too early as the government has only announced an evaluation plan, Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) chief executive officer Andrew Chipwende has said.
Reacting to opposition by some stakeholders on the intended privatisation of Zamtel Limited, Chipwende defended the government’s intention saying it was aimed at strengthening Zamtel. Chipwende said strengthening of Zamtel’s position would include operations, financial, human resources and other technical perspective.
Asked to comment on concerns that telecommunications was too strategic for the country to be left in the hands of private companies and that Zamtel Limited exclusively controlled the International Gate Way (IGW) which the government had resisted to allow Zain Zambia Plc and MTN Zambia to access citing security reasons, Chipwende said all those concerns would be addressed in the review and evaluation process the government had currently embarked on.
He also denied that Zamtel Limited was a monopoly in the telecommunications sector in the country.
“I am very reluctant to talk about this issue and I would rather wait for the outcome of the evaluation. The evaluation would be very comprehensive and all those issues would be addressed,” Chipwende said. “I don’t agree to say Zamtel is a monopoly because anyone can have access to the IGW. Zamtel does not control the IGW, it is controlled by the Communications Authority (CA) and the only reason these other companies (Zain Zambia Plc and MTN Zambia) are not accessing is because of the cost (the government has pegged the cost of IGW licence fee at US $12 million). As for the security concerns, like I have said, the government has only announced the roadmap but of course all those concerns that border on legal and regulatory framework would be addressed.”
And Chipwende said it was very difficult to give a time frame as to when the transaction to dispose of Zamtel would be completed.
Communications minister Dora Siliya indicated that the government was going to conclude the transaction and come up with an equity partner for Zamtel by end of first quarter of next year.
Labels: ANDREW CHIPWENDE, PRIVATISATION, ZAMTEL, ZDA
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