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RDA chief nabbed for attempting to obtain over K3.5 billion by false pretences

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Road Development Agency (RDA) Director Watson Ng’ambi and Mulenga Kapembwa an accountant have been arrested by Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) for attempting to obtain over K3.5 billion by false pretences.

DEC Public Relations and Press Liason Officer Rosten Chulu confirmed to ZANIS that
Watson Ng’ambi 42, the Director at RDA of plot 23617 Presidential Housing Initiative (PHI) in Lusaka and Mulenga Kapembwa 39 an accountant of 1369 off Palm Drive in
Chelston Lusaka have been arrested and charged with attempting to obtain money by
false pretences contrary to section 309 and 389 of 5the Penal Code CAP 87 of the
laws of Zambia.

Mr. Chulu said whilst acting jointly with others, the two instructed National Road Fund Agency to pay contractors Turner Construction Limited/BICON Zambia Limited and GM International Limited/Rankin Engineering Associates for the projects they are undertaking in Chingola, Ndola, Choma and Mazabuka respectively.

He said the accused with intent to defraud allegedly resubmitted copies of the already made advance payment thereby creating a double payment which is so far amounting to over K3. 5 billion.

In another development, 14 other Zambians have been arrested for unlawful trafficking in psychotropic substances weighing a total of 90.096kgs.

In Central province, the commission has arrested Brighton Jonathan Tembo 28 and Levis Munyika 29.

In the North-western and Eastern provinces, Brighton Katunda, Clever Mulenga, Yobe
Alikanjelo, Charles Banda, Mpande Lombe Charles Ziba and Okiseensio Lungu have been
arrested by the Commission.

And on the Copperbelt, the commission has arrested Fides Chisi, Christina Mambala, Tom Tembo, Kabwe Chilambwe and Stanley Bamba all for trafficking in cannabis.

Mr.Chulu said all the suspects will appear in court soon.

Meanwhile, the commission has since cautioned Zambians to desist from engaging themselves in the unlawful cultivation and trafficking of psychotropic substances
and Money Laundering activities.

ZANIS

24 COMMENTS

  1. The DEC should move cautiously on the investigations on this matter.What they have discovered may just be a tip of an ice burg.I call upon all law enforcement agencies to join hands and probe all these misappropriation of public funds.

  2. We need tougher laws for such vices.DEC must extend their areas of investigation ,this matrix must have been in existence time in memorial,The govt systems seem to have developed serious lapses and one would question why the Auditor General has not picked up such a flaw,or may be its part of a highly sophisticated group of govt officers involved including those from AG,ACC? LPM’s cry that K3T has been stolen by civil servants could just be about right, it appears everyone now is stealing in billions from PSs to accounts clerks.Something urgent must be done to arrest the situation.Stiffer punishment, repossession of dubiously aquired properties, freezing of accounts and longer jail terms must be the only options.

  3. It’s probably just a misunderstanding on the part of DEC…..The guys would be very foolish to want to steal ADVANCE PAYMENT which is ultimately recovered from the contractor (who will then cry foul if deductions are made for funds he never received!!!).
    DEC may be wrong on this one.

    Based on press reports, the crime that they may have attempted to commit is to pay the contractors amounts above the allowable maximum limit for advance payments. And this they can only do with the connivance of the contractors!!!

  4. Dennis , its a question of breach of trust, all these guys mentioned are senior managers at RDA and of course must conform to certain principles and ethics.It will be very folly on the part of DEC to expose this case without having investigated it fully.The case is there and it will be a strong case because it involves senior officers. Had it been junior staff you can give it a benefit of doubt and think otherwise.I hope cases like this wont be like the other ones that take long to finish.

  5. Chilumba, agreed on principles and ethics. DEC seems to be shooting in the wind; first it was a Mr Petwe and now the two men mentioned. Let’s hope DEC has done its homework.

    Like i said earlier , only a foolish thief would want to steal ADVANCE PAYMENT because it will ultimately be discovered unless they also vary/increase the value of the contract sum by the same amount. Advance Payment is recovered from the contractor within the contracted sum.

  6. In Zimbabwe, talting about things you dont know is a crime. Chilumba keep quiet, you have little knowledge about crime. Dr Maswahu is the only man can make rule of law work in Zambia and reduce crime to zero

  7. In Zimbabwe, talking about things you dont know is a crime. Chilumba keep quiet, you have little knowledge about crime. Dr Maswahu is the only man who can make rule of law work in Zambia and reduce crime to zero.Dennis, its like you were before a finnacial criminal.

  8. Dennis, as coincidence maybe these chaps became so complacent about things cos they got so used without covering up their tracks.Its a question of wait and see. At the same time there is every likeness of DEC losing this case if they are not careful.Collusion with the contractors is very high and DEC must dig deeper for them to be comfortable pursuing this case.Its a high level theft case.Mudala wakatenzi I have told you what is in stock for you.You are not so different from that Chap at virgina tech.Your time is coming but first we need to put you at Chainama.

  9. Everything starts small, and for these guys to reach at this level of wanting to steal more than K3.0bn, they could have started a long time and now they are used. Investigations should go as far back as when these guys were appointed and find out what type of assets they have aquired since that time..

  10. Wakatenzi the wise man from the east (chainama Hills college), the post newspaper not too long ago wrote about most Zambians commenting on things they least understand. I urge you to read it.

    I am an engineer and i’m very very conversant with payment procedures for contractors. There’s a chain of signatories before payment is effected. Like Chilumba has said,Collusion with the contractors and consultants may be one way to atleast cover the tracks.

  11. One down, many more remains, I urge investigations wing to spread their wings to all governments departments. Of later, we have seen new deal civil servants are driving more than one car or very posh cars from stolen money or chekelako (even office orderies are now tycoons of this world). We have suffered enought to these Kelekas. Look what happens to Central Board of Health. A brilliant ideal gone gone to dogs.

  12. It all started with Emphraim Chibwe,then Remmy Mushota and his colleague and everything is now not stopping. Why have the Internal Auditors been left out, as they counter sign before a cheque is issued? What is happening to the other’s Chulu is refering to?

  13. I’m just disgusted and sick of this. We simply cant have such intensity of pilferage of public resources in every public institution going unpunished.

    In every civilised society, everybody especially in public office who is building monstrous houses and buying big cars beyond any reasonable relation to their official incomes should be made to prove their income sources and declare their tax returns. This is now justified.

    The entire satellite of 30 health centres stretched to care for AIDS, etc patients in Lusaka operates on around K3.5 annually. But those narcissistics want to build houses and screw prostitutes from such theft.

    Africans, its the things you do that make you a third world country.

  14. Francis, i support your views and concern. This is the reason why anything in government controlled hands is mainly and always abused. This is also the reason why i support privatisation, because no individual would think of manipulating figures in a private company, as there is no mercy on such culprits,and they are sent quickly to prison. Few examples of fraud that occured at Barclays involving billions of funds on companies like BP, where are the culprits today? Standard Bank,when it discovered what was happening to it’s sponsored wards at Arthur Davis Hospital in Ndola, it quickly cancelled the support and the culprits are now in prison either Chimbokaila,Peter Singongo ro rottin somewhere. In government, they are still on the payroll and will be suspended after 3years or never will, and just transfered to other ministries/depts. What would be happening if those parastatal companies were still in existence?

  15. MUDALA WA.. WHATEVER YOU CALL YOURSELF, SOMETHING IS OBSCENELY WRONG WITH YOU. ITHE DUNDERHEAD IS YOU WHO CAN’T SEE BEYOND YOUR NOSE. YOU ARE UNABLE TO DISCERN THE CAUSE OF WHAT YOU CALL THE COUGHING ECONOMY. ARE YOU SURE ROBERT WOULD LIKE HIS COUNTRY’S ECONOMY TO ‘COUGH’. I BET WITH YOUR SHALLOW MIND YOU WOULD SAY YES. LETS SAY YOU BECAME ZIM PRES, HOW WOULD TURN AROUND THE ECONOMY ASSUMING THE SANCTIONS IN IMPOSED BY THOSE WHO WANT TO BE BOOTLICKED REMAIN IN PLACE? I BET THE FIRST THING YOU WILL DO IS TO GIVE BACK THE LAND FOR FREE SO SANCTIONS COULD BE REMOVED, HEE!

    YOU SEE WE (AFRICA AND AFRICANS) CAN NOT CONTINUE TO EXIST OR LIVE JUST FOR THE WESTERN WORLD, RATHER WE SHOULD LIVE WITH THEM.

    IF YOU ARE NOT CAUCASIAN, THEN YOU ARE THE CHAPS WHO ARE SO THICK IN YOUR HEADS THAT YOU WANT TO BOOTLICK REGARDLESS. YOU MUST GROW UP. IF YOU DON’T KNOW ZIM IS INDEPENEDENT. BUT OF COURSE IT IS UNDERSTOOD BECAUSE THERE IS ALWAYS AN EXISTENCE OF CHARACTERS OF YOUR SORT, PLUS MDC PRES.

  16. LPM WOULD HAVE LET THE SLEEPING DOG LIE

    Once was untermed wild dog called corruption
    sleeping soundlessly deep down the Jungle
    Then one day, came a short eloquent clever hunter
    with a name Just in initials, FTJ

    He got glimpse of the soundless sleeping dog

    ” I will term it so that it becomes domestic”
    He mumered
    “After all it now democracy season so why not”

    Clever FTJ went out on a hunting spree
    With his newly termed wild dog
    Got a good share of the forest produce for himself
    And let the wild dog back to sleep again
    Every body was admiring him

    Here now comes LPM
    Patrolling the Jungle
    He too got a glimpse of the sleeping wild dog

    “This is a vicious wild dog,”
    He mumered
    ” I will use it for those salvaging the jungle”

    Unfortunately, LPM could not term the wild dog
    Neither could it bite anybody

    The dog is still wild
    And everybody is now using to salvage the jungle
    Out there somebody is crying
    “please control the wild dog!!!!!!”

  17. Kayata, yes indeed privatization may be a key to answering internal control and audit procedure abuses in these institutions. But we are talking about government institutions. I know you know that we cannot privatize government. We need to develop internal controls that would not be subject to manipulation. For instance, we can strengthen tender procedures, separate responsibilities in the process, have a different department to raise a payment requisition and someone else to approve the final payment. Let’s try and make these processes electronic so that whoever handles an issue will have their sign-on name written all over that aspect of the process. We do not need to act after the fact. People being arrested now and prosecuted, have already done the damage. We need to prevent this vice rather than cure it. We need commitment from the leaders to change this. Otherwise, this will always be the song that Zambians will sing for the rest of their lives.

  18. KC alias Mudala wakatatenzi you are behaving like a shushu what is wrong with you? What time do you take the medicine? Atleast after 6pm we shall be expecting good reasoning from you.Now you are talking ,please continue with your medication and be compliant, you can give some to your much treasured Dr.Privatisation is a broad concept which covers even govt wings e.g Newzealand/indonesia have privatised most of the ministries and replaced them with boards that include govt officials, private and independent managers in addition to the public.So every mix of economic management has its merits but what Zambia lacks is patriotism which has been replaced with pure greed and show off.Ministers have been found not to retire imprest, govt officials stealing like Kashiwa, FTJ matrix etc ,even if we were to put in a solid structure minus discipline and patriotism these measures will still be subject to abuse.The culture must change coupled with independent judiciary, like Kataya said.

  19. KC, Here are some of the Govt bodies already privatised: Zanaco,ZCCM,Indeco,ZCBC,NIEC,NAMBOARD,NIEC etc… In govt, there are already different persons handling every movement of the payment/cheque. Starts from the Accounts Clerk, to the Internal Auditors, Accountant, sometimes even the Chief Accountant and as high as the Director before a cheque is authorised. Huge payments like the one under discussion even goes to the Permanent Secretary’s office for authorisation. The only reason why these two have been caught by DEC is because they did not involve the others, and DEC is awaiting to speak to the other’s. Since it was a payment already made, Ng’ambi and kapembwa were trying to duplicate the payment. But understand that before a payment is made in Govt, there are alot of signatories to the cheque. In short, they are already Internal Controls in place. KC, what do you do to a thief when he steal’s despite doing some damage?

  20. KC, on doing thing’s electronic. Remember what happened in Barclays, Lusaka, when staff were transferring billion’s of kwacha for their client’s like BP,Zamtel,Zesco into personal account’s. Even the electronic has it’s own demerit’s. I’ll tell you what Zambian’s must do to stop singing for the rest of their life’s. Independent Judiciary and that is the prevention and cure.

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