Friday, April 19, 2024

ABSA sues the government for $74m plus interest

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The Absa Group Limited (Absa) Headquarters
The Absa Group Limited (Absa) Headquarters

South Africa’s Absa Group Limited (ABSA), a subsidiary of Barclays Bank PLC has sued Zambia for breach of contract involving more than US$74 million in the importation and refinery of feed stock.

In a writ of summons filed in the Lusaka High Court on June 29, ABSA says the Government is liable on the basis of breach of collateral warranty for the payment of the $74,394,060.21 plus interest.

According to an affidavit in support of a writ of summons, ABSA had dragged the Zambian Government to a South African high court local division where it obtained a judgment in default and an order for it to be paid $74,394,060.21.

The affidavit stated that in 2001 ABSA started negotiations with a view to fund the Zambia National Oil Company (ZNOC) for the acquisition of feedstock from the suppliers and for the operations.

The deal included payments to Tazama for storage, pumping and payments to Indeni for refinery.

“The negotiations for the funding of ZNOC came to an end when it was placed under receivership and subsequently liquidated and this led to the commencement of negotiations between the Government and ABSA.

“These negotiations culminated into conclusion of a suite of agreements including a revolving oil supply credit agreement in March 2002 between ABSA and Trans- Saharan Trading (TST) Limited for the sum of $100 million,” the affidavit reads.

Pursuant to the facility agreement and on the strength of Government’s undertaking, ABSA advanced funds to TST which defaulted on its obligations to ABSA. This ultimately led to the instituting of legal proceedings.

“ To date none of the aforesaid amount has been paid by TST and the judgment debt granted in favour of ABSA remains unsatisfied and despite attempts ABSA is unable to make any recovery in this refund as at December 2008,” the affidavit reads.

The Government in October 2002 unilaterally purported to withdraw the undertaking it agreed upon and terminated the TST’s mandate to procure, import, refining, market and sell of the feed stocks.

The statement read that Government’s action to withdraw the undertaking at a time when amounts were owing to ABSA in terms of the facility agreement impacted negatively and prejudiced the rights of TST as contemplated in the facility agreement.

In the premises the Government was liable to the repayment of the said monies to ABSA.
[Times of Zambia]

86 COMMENTS

  1. elo lwanya!!after buyin manda mandas $29pin now tax payeers have to pay ABSA $74million,we should file for bankcrapcy as a nation…the really have miss managed our resouces

  2. Now watch the incompetence exhibited by Zambian lawyers.Watch the drama. I wonder if the country has learned and credible business lawyers and simply what it takes. Kukamba kamba pakamwa. Learned on paper. ABSA will definitely reap the country of $74m just like that. We never win such cases, history has it.
    On the other hand, I just wish its not one of those scams involving government officials to deep in the nation’s coffers in the name of paying ABSA. Typical.

  3. when will wwe grow up in Zambia please… People are just stealing at will… m sure even this suit is becoz some one ate the money…

  4. Zambian people will be overtaxed to settle this claim. We will see if the govt will say there is no momey.

  5. Ba Govt. mwamona! ulufyengo talwawama. You should have given the nurses what they want, A lot of lives have been lost, more misery to come.

  6. capitalism is a good thing but is comes with high costs and risks. aboutthose involved its Donald chanda and company, guided my main man Kafupi. Donald Chanda was chairman for all three Companies, indeni, tazama and znoc

  7. Heee, remember that this happened when Mwanawasa took it personal to supply Indeni with stockfeed. We hear his relatives had an upper hand in Indeni. Zambian is a confused corrupt country indeed. They new that ABSa would sue them .

  8. I wonder what RB will say to us now… i hope he hasnt partnered with ABSA to have zambians pay through thier nose then he gets his share……. anything is possible with our leaders….. and o ABSA part..there is no such a thing as bad media. Damn we have seriously imcompetent people in leadership… this is what happens when incompetent ministers like DORA sign big contracts without a business lawyer reading every “hidden clause”. for advise… I am highly disgu$ted with our conduct

  9. Its very clear that the MMD has been stealing from the Zambian people ever since they came to power.These are a bunch of criminals who will not surrender power to decent people.we really need a revolution in this country.If Guinea,Mauritania or even Honduras can rise & remove some corrupt chaps,why not Zambians?.Are we timid,docile or what?.

  10. Hamusankwa drives into a Service Station on Great North Road [Impala Service Station] in his battered Land Rover 109, clad in shorts, North Star, potato cut and “I love NY” Cap. He hands the attendant the keys complete with a beautiful Tupac key ring

    Hamusankwa: “Kozuzya super” (Kozuzya means fill up the tank!)

    Attendant: “How much?”

    Hamusankwa: “ndaamba kuti kozuzya!” – meaning, hey I said fill up the tank!

    Attendant: “I only speak English!”

    Hamusankwa: “No problem. Good day to you Sir. I currently feel a profound desire to replenish the propellant of my motorized vehicle. Therefore, I cordially request you to transfer, from your subterranean reservoir, a sufficient quantity of the combustible fluid of the highest octane rating to…

  11. #14,you damn right even Mr Integrity Mwanawasa(R.I.P) riped this country off with his family tree controling all major national deals..i wonder why red-liped Teta z taking his time to tell the nation about the MOTHER of all corruption…$74million shafulisha

  12. This is a perfect time for the AG and so called government lawyers to show their might instead of past court shambles. Instead of jumping around chasing ministers and complaing about Dora heres a perfect case . Isn’t this the same ZNOC company that Chiluba and friends made $100 million in the 1990’s ? The problem with the government /MMD is that when in power they treat state run companies as though they are their own personal companies, the fact that the negotiations started in 2001 says a lot about who bears the responsibilty for this.

  13. No 23 Slumdog, I agree with you. Let’s see how bright our learned state counsels are. If they can get us out of trouble on this one, then they are indeed learned.

  14. YABA! country munkongole,bushe ninani is involved.we need to get to the root of the problem,who commited govt to such transactions?

  15. The only clean person in this government is Teta All the rest are rotten eggs Go on Teta tell us what we want to know am sure someone benefited form this. We can’t be paying tax to enrich a few kapoko’s If you can give the nurses the little they are asking for. Shame! May God deliver us.

  16. i believe our state counsels are ontop of their game, problem is the MMD thugs will probably appoint the Nchito pricks

  17. Yazanda! Shallow minds always think they can play mickey mouse games all the time. People think they can abuse money without anyhow. Well this proves them wrong and someone is s.h.i.t.t.i.n.g in their pants right now cause when things go to court inshi naibipa bakamba. Lets see how RB reacts to this one. His govt has been put to test. ALIMBE RB ALIMBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

  18. The Donald chanda, Kafupi and Enock Kavindele matrix. Later Kavindele personalised it until he got fired when Maureen Mwanawasa ambition to take over the oil supply deals were being impeded.With Kavindele fired, Maureen became the National oil deals contractor. The Indeni oil crisis we suffered were under her terms of instructing nephew PS Mumba never to bring in anything but wait for her oil stock feed deals from bakamyemfu.

  19. Why do we enter into these arrangements without thinking it through. Time and time again we find ourselves in these things. I’m no expert in law of contract, but I know better than to sign on the dotted line unless am sure I will be able to excute my obligations under the contract and understand fully the results of a breach.

  20. Bushe is this how its gone be pa Zed. First there was a clause missing Aglo-american co over KCM, the a series of contract breaches now this one! Where are we going mwe bantu?

  21. I now remember Super Kenny (KK) during 1991 elections. He said plainly that these MMD are a bunch of theves. The problems in zambia is poverty. Any one in Govertment office wants to enrich themselves. Its not a matter or appointing illiterate relatives and friends or cadres to positions of authority but looking at cappabilities. That is why our so called leaders dont resign whenever there is a scadal. Curse upon them for making mother zambia what it is today coz of there greedy.

  22. Ola Breeze, how you today… imwe sure our GOVT …guys. lets do something.. this is too much… nomba.

    3RqU… yes he has Dickson Jere, the man that writes the articles that circulate everytime there is a scandal trying to paint RB as the innocent newly elected president put in a mess stired by Mwanawasa’ s crew.. Pure PR cr@p… i for once believed RB has potential from the brilliantly placed lies that Jere spreads but hes imcompetence has shown itself.. no amount of good publicity will make us like or support him

  23. I Matworld.

    Iam just waiting for God to deal with the pipo in the govt enough is enough.No positive news pa Zambia nowadays why?Are we the only nation facing recession in the world.Iam in my late 20s and all I have been hearing about our nation is negative things Why God Why Mwe Lesa?

  24. Hey People, this has got nothing to do with RB or Maureen Mwanawasa. This is all Kafupi business. He really messed up whilst in State House. No wonder he had wanted to appoint a President he could easily manipulate, in order to hide his dealings. But alas, it did not work out.

    Right now I am fasting and praying that he will be convicted for the theft of US$500,000. Kafupi deserves to be in prison for a very long time.

    So we shall end up paying ABSA for the theft done by Kafupi and his cronies. Shame on You Kafupi!!!!…………….. Nimfulwa sana! Chimanibaba

  25. Ola Breeze, how you today… imwe sure our GOVT …guys. lets do something.. this is too much… nomba.

    3RqU… yes he has D-ic-kso-n Je-re, the man that writes the articles that circulate everytime there is a scandal trying to paint RB as the innocent newly elected president put in a mess stired by Mwanawasa’ s crew.. Pure PR cr@p… i for once believed RB has potential from the brilliantly placed lies that Jere spreads but hes imcompetence has shown itself.. no amount of good publicity will make us like or support him

  26. Let us Clear the MMD complete from Office..It is too much..this party has lost our opportunity to develop..From Chiluba to Banda are all useless and conmen

  27. #40 Matworld Greetings
    Thats the way to go but God also expects us to speak out and act for the good of this country. If we are the salt of this world, hey we need to influence the politicians not the other way round. Kick out the Nyandules A.K.A Roaches

  28. Matrix!!.

    Matworld is fine,and thank you so much for your greetings.I hear you my dear loud and clear,and you are very right that we are the light and the salt of this world,iam sure you are aware that many pipo have tried to talk to these pipo so called politician but the can’t change,they are stiff naked like those pipo who stoned stephen to death,Iam sure you have read this scripture in the Bible which say “If you see your broher sinning talk to him,if he does not change take him to the elders take him to the elders of the church,if he does not change hang him over to the devil where he belongs.” Iam very sorry if at all I have come out so strong.

    Be blessed my dear.

  29. Such things will lead to tourists/investors losing confidence in Zambia too much greed in our leaders!Any1 who is associated to FTJ must b given the boot!Enuf is enuf!Jst look at the Kwacha/Dollar exchange rates!Shame on the person behind this mess!Its depressing!

  30. heya guys..u orite yeah? i ve got a job telephone interview with vodafone in the UK, does anyone know summat about wot they ask and all.. coz i know nawt bout what they may ask. TA.

  31. hey matworld, mate! ati how..ya i was just with my babe.. you just know how women are.. you need to invest time otherwise tayabalance uwushiku.. so when are you goin pa pretorio?

  32. daisy baybay..finally ! ya i missed you mummy..otherwise how is your day goin and how is the weather pa SA? ya kuno nakukava ! any plans for the weekend?

  33. walai nthwenu mputi business.

    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! wanfuna imbafu boyi,anyway its good for you dear Iam happy for you.Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

    Sweet D

    How are you lelo?

    Oh Walai Nthwenu.

    Possibly next week before schools open ninshi naya ku Pretoria.

  34. na mean? same old same old down here in zed. wats the govt gonna say about all this? banda & his bunch of no-goods? Defensive mechanism engaged, kufwa na no!!! it wasnt us! we werent there!! We all know these guys specialise in the blame game so dont hold your breath about some sort of miracle solution. this buck will be paid coz i cannot even picture one of our lawyers being coherent after one of em white lawyer dudes with about a million degrees in business law is finished with em. “The state would like to enter a nolle proscue…your honor…” like Obama, play the blame game during campaigns and the wen u enter the post of president, stop blamin and start workin!! every knows it wasnt your fault but they put your a.s.s. there to sort it out? dig?

  35. This whole thing came be traced back to Kafupi and its wrong to blame RB The only thing the govt can do is to tell Malila to organise th best legal brains in the name of State Counsels to defend us against ABSA,

  36. I remember when the POSt first broke this TST deal then like all things that the Government wanted to hush it was never followed up. Now it has come back to bite us. Anna Chifungulo do your thing and give us the culprit so that we can string him up by the toes.

  37. ..Ba Sharp Shooter .

    Mwemfumu nimwe mwebaluba,Iam sure isukulu has kept you busy.At least ine Iam on vacation mudala though for a ka short period.Good to see you on LT after a long time mudala.

  38. Matworld mwana.. am aight.. u offline on gtalk..whats up…. log in and hola @ ya sis………Walai, am aight… its cold here,… but then i love the cold so its aight.. I have been invited for an MTV party by a client so it shouldnt be too boring…. what can we do…. Zed lets us down. we cant drown in our sorrows ayi?

  39. I rememba LP Mwanawasa citing this deal as the reason of Firing kavindele….someone will have to explain….not Zambians.

  40. u know wat agony is? havin George Kunda as Justice Minister in times like these….on a plus though, if GK took this case and with his unique talent of boring people to death when he talks, the prosecution could just drop dead before they reached the exit in a frantic bid to escape……

  41. #43 u r very right y blam RB he has nothing to do with this it was the short bastered who made this mess

  42. This among other things could be the reasons why you can t even give em inocent nurses some pay rise. Hope and now i could atleast maybe try to pray that it does not turn out to be like the Madoff Benard issue…..Mwanga say something…….what more has been happening in SA please.Iam dying to get to know more cos it would be interesti g now that 2011 is close.Iyi story ni what kind Mr Minister of Money…….what was the right name they called him…………hmmm mr Man Minister of Finance.Whating to get to know more

  43. so who are we picking as our lawyer? John Sangwa ? Sometimes you just dont get the confidence our own lawyers can crack this. Is it because they are only used to the small dramas is our run down Local Courts? We are falling and so fast at that.

  44. I now I tend to believe that people are just naturally critical of RB. Someone else was president when this deal was being made but no one wants to mention that Mwanawasa and Magande were in the driving seat.
    And ABSA please just buzz off for all I know you should be persuing TST those bloody crooks! Government should not give them even a penny. Contract was terminated capish! why should GRZ start paying someone else’s loan. Do we have to be tied to a contract just because TST borrowed money………RB and Situmbeko don’t even think about it. Let them go to the international court of arbitration or something not a kama south african high court ma rubbish

  45. just received pictures allegedly showing a boss from celtel (zain) doin the hanky panky with a junior collegue at some lodge on the pretex of attending a workshop. these ‘Geniuses’ clicked away on their digital cam while in variuos states of undress, in the jacuzzi, close up shots of their dinga lings and then were careless enough to let these pics land on the internet. their faces look very zambian. want a copy? post your email address and i will indulge u.

  46. The main culprit in this one is Kavindele. His son owns 46 per cent shares in TST. This country will never develop. God please help us.

  47. In light of “In a writ of summons filed in the Lusaka High Court on June 29, ABSA says the Government is liable on the basis of breach of collateral warranty for the payment of the $74,394,060.21 plus interest” and “In the premises the Government was liable to the repayment of the said monies to ABSA“, just pay ABSA its money and stop wasting our, Zambians’, time MMD GRZ. Where former Presidents Chiluba (Hon Doc,Malawi) and LP Mwanawasa (Hon Doc,USA) failed, let President RB Banda succeed.
    _
    Deut 1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; [but] ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment [is] God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring [it] unto me, and I will hear it.

  48. 78 continued.

    Otherwise, let MMD sort out things of in-fighting within its ranks aside from GRZ commitments.

    Impressive enough, these are all UPND-PF PACT campaign meassages for the 2011 tripartite elections. I hope president HH is taking note of these things carefully.
    _
    Deut 1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; [but] ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment [is] God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring [it] unto me, and I will hear it.

  49. Hey smells like incompetence, why are we all rushing to smell a deal, It could be just a malicious claim, incompetence or ma dillu. but why all rush to scream blue murder, we dont have the facts so take it easy

  50. It is interesting to note that The Post Newspapers are not in the in the lead in reporting on the Abbsa case against Zambia.This is so because they have a vested interest. The Post were PR machinery for Mwanawasa, in misleading the country over oil matters, which resulted in this Mwanawasa corruption. The Nchitos incorporated TST in Zambia and registered the financing facility debenture between TST and government . TST registered offices for their operations was the Nchito’s law firm premises. George Kunda was the Attoney General and Minister of legal affairs. Let these chaps say what they did with Mwanawasa. There is also the illegal liquidation on ZNOC on top of this case, which these friends of ours need to explain and account for.

  51. The entire oil scam which began with the illegal liquidation of ZNOC need to be resolved. There have been submissions by Former ZNOC Chief Executive in court and Zambian Parliament that ZNOC was illegally put in liquidation in order for some people using government name to defraud Zambia. EX-ZNOC Chief Executive stated that ZNOC had proprientary right to the the ABSA financing facility for which the company had even paid ABSA US$ 50 ,000. He further went on to say that ABSA financing facility was stolen from ZNOC by TST in collusion with Mwanawasa government. Therefore ABSA should have know from the start that it had entered into an illegal agreement with TST and Zambian Government, for which there will have no recourse. ABSA would have to prove that TST had legal right to facility

  52. TST was a sham company created by Mwanawasa and the Nchitos to defraud Zambia through the oil sector. They used The Post Newspapers and the Auditor General to mislead the country on the financial status and operations of ZNOC in order for them to perpetuate the fraud. EX ZNOC Chief Executive Dennis Mumba 100 paged submission to Public Accounts Committee of Zambian Parliament exposes massive fraud that Mwanawasa and company engaged in and how the Auditor General office and the Zambian Judiciary, ZANACO, ZRA, The Post Newspapers among others were used in order for the Mwanawasa oil fraud to take root in Zambia. When Dennis Mumba challenged the legality of ZNOC liquidation and the stealing of ZNOC assets, i.e. The crude oil in Tazama Pipeline, ZNOC Fuel terminal in Ndola and the US$65 million

  53. ZNOC / ABSA financing facility, which facility was a brain child of ZNOC and for which ZNOC had even paid ABSA, US 50,000 to ABSA .All these ZNOC assets were stolen by Mwanawasa, the proceeds from the ZNOC oil in the pipeline have not been accounted for, The ZNOC Fuel Terminal was given to yet another Sham company of Chiluba, Katele Kalumba and Mwanawasa called Total Outer – Mer, which like TST was created by these chaps for purposes of fraud. The US$ 65 Million ZNOC / ABSA financing facility was stolen by Mwanawasa and given to a sham company TST for purposes of fraudulent oil trading activities. When Mwanawasa realized that Dennis Mumba through his court action was about to expose his dealings with TST, Mwanawasa quickly fired Kavindele and Kasonde in his attempt to deflect blame

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