The Ministry of Energy Energy Permanent Secretary, George Zulu invited people with information about allegations that the Trafigura is involved in corrupt activities in other countries to come forward.
Mr Zulu said that security agencies cleared the company in the technical stage adding that the company has operations in Tanzania and Kenya.
Mr Zulu who is in Tanzania to supervise the transportation of three million liters of Petrol to Zambia said that the government does not want any irregularities procurement of oil for the country.
He was responding to a story in the Daily Nation attributed to UPND’s chairperson for Energy, Garry Nkombo who says the entire oil tender was full of corruption.
Mr Zulu refuted accusations that the Oil supply contracts awarded to Gunvor and Trafigura were marred in corruption.
He said that the process was done in a transparent manner and has urged those with information to the contrary to report any irregularities to law enforcement agencies.
[pullquote]The Daily Nation further claimed that Trafigura was illegally allowed to change prices for its bid three months after the tender was opened. But Mr Zulu said that this was a serious criminal offence which must be reported.[/pullquote]
The Daily Nation further claimed that Trafigura was illegally allowed to change prices for its bid three months after the tender was opened.
But Mr Zulu said that this was a serious criminal offence which must be reported.
He however stressed that the tender process was done in a transparent manner involving three stages before Gunvor and Trafigura were selected to as winners of the tender.
Meanwhile, the opposition Zambians for Empowerment and Development has cautioned the Patriotic Front government against engaging suspected corrupt oil companies for the supply of oil to the country.
Government is currently holding talks with two foreign companies Gunvor and Trafigura regarding a two-year contract for the supply of oil and refined fuel.
[pullquote]Dr. Mtesa noted that any company that can not meet the stringent environmental management and good corporate norms demanded in developed countries should automatically be disqualified to do business in Zambia.[/pullquote]
ZED president Frederick Mtesa said the reported revelations of corruption and unsound environmental practices of the two companies negotiating for oil supply, if left unchecked, are bound to make a mockery government claims that it is committed to the fight against corruption.
Dr. Mtesa noted that any company that can not meet the stringent environmental management and good corporate norms demanded in developed countries should automatically be disqualified to do business in Zambia.
He told QFM News that if companies that have tainted records are allowed in the country, it will be distorting competition and risking the country’s independence to run public affairs.
Dr. Mtesa has since demanded for a better explanation from government stating that it was not enough for energy permanent secretary George Zulu to just say that the country’s security wings had cleared the two companies.
[Source :ZNBC/QFM]
Mr minister sir just google “Trafigura corrupt activities”,then you will know the kind of company you are dealing with.
#1 I just followed your advise and lo and behold evidence all over the place and this Government official claims that the security agencies cleared these people.
As Dr Mutesa has beautifully put it, a company with bad record of environment damage in a developed country should have been disqualified.
If our security agencies cleared this company, it now begs the question if our agencies are really up to date when a simple google search reveals so much junk about this firm.
This sounds like the so called Ballot Paper printing by Universal Printers of which Kabimba personally took the MMD government to court and with the POST Newspaper cheer-leading them
Can Kabimba and Mmembe google this company and issue an editorial please , we are waiting
Is this not the same Trafigura that dumped the worst in Ivory Coast and corrupted the govt officials in that country in their quest to cover the mess?
Is this not the same Trafigura that dumped the waste in Ivory Coast and corrupted the govt officials in that country in their quest to cover the mess?
#1, I also followed your advice. Eish!!!!!! this company stinks. Bloggers try: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/trafigura. And someone claims the security wings cleared this company. how did they do it? What these guys should know is that information is now at the click of a button and no amount of ZNBC news sugarcoating will dissuade us from knowing the truth. Ati allergic to corruption!!!!!!!! We are in a worse off situation now.
These pipo dont even know Google……
voila!!! Thanks to goolge, information is now at the finger tips. Trafigura is very corrupt.
Ba PS , I am shocked by your statement. Are these trafigura people not the ones that have bought BP? If they are, bwana PS please check there record on what they did in IVORY COAST? Are these not the guys who dumped the waste in IVORY COAST? Did the security wings check with the Green Peace?
I am also surprised that the PS is not aware of the Trafigura corruption in JAMAICA? These guys have long history of corruption……
Nanga google uyo ninani, kanshi? wa gossip sana. wama wanu sana. But it sounds like a name of a sista of tujils.
What can Garry Nkombo tell us? You were our superior at SGS and we were very much aware of your activities at the time your were collateral and warehouse manager. Remember Glencore maize at National milling. NONSENSE!!!
bloggers…how much are these guys offering in return per data item…? data tilinayo manje to offload it nikudyamo…..twebeni tulelyamo shinga…?
The problem is not this stupid minister. The problem is the definition of corruption in PF is different from the definition of corruption being used by the rest of Zambians. Please don’t ask PF to do more on corruption. The majority of you actually voted PF into power.
@ No. 1 – Yes….. Google is great!
Transparency International (parent of TIZ) reports that Trafigura paid a $31million “donation” to the then governing People’s National Party of Jamaica. Separately, another site reports that Trafigura is under investigation by Dutch authorities over a 466,000 Euro bribe made by Trafigura from its UK bank account to Jamaica’s ruling People’s National Party (PNP).
There are also reports that a London law firm working for Trafigura paid bribes to witnesses in a case involving the dumping of toxic waste in Ivory Coast and that £30m compensation due to be paid to thousands of African victims was stolen by the Ivory Coast regime resulting from Trafigura corrupt procedures.
What I don’t get is why cant we buy oil directly from Iran or Iraq for example..Why do we have to go through middle men like Trafigura. A direct purchase would result in a lower price per barrel and more litres of gas for every kwacha i spend at the pump..
@The Peoples Defender
Two reasons:
1. If you google, you will realise that there are international sanctions on Iran, therefore importing oil directly may be/is out of the question.
2. As much as Zed as a country requires to import oil bulk for the whole country, the quantity they would import may be lower than what companies like Trafigura imports to supply the global markets where they have contracts. That means Trafigura would negotiate better discounts and offer Zed a better price per barrel than they would otherwise get by importing directly from oil producing countries.Â
Don’t confuse this kind of business dealing with some “con” way in which suppliers to government institutions pa Zed make more than double the profits!
I can give other reasons but two is enough for now.
Pls do not waste time reporting, according to the standards of PF govt this company only practices small corruption and surely it is okay to deal with them. How sad to have a govt of such double standards i.e. fight and allow corruption. The little maths I recall this cancels out, implying no corruption fight is in place anyway.
A little bit of corruption is ok!!!Kekeke
The truth of the matter is that Political parties need money to run their offices, thus the easy way to fund your party – when in office- is give a contract to a company like this one and soon PF as a party will be financially stable. This is not new and thats why MMD cant talk about it. Its called Party Funding and not Corruption.
Ofcourse somebody was oiled
Check wikipedia for info on Trafigura!!!
I will bring the footage, press reports and all media on investigations and legal judgments in the public domain with some popcorn and we can chill out and watch it all without getting sued for the industrial espionage you are inadvertently encouraging. You don’t need a whistle blower when it is out there in more reliable and legally documented places than Wikipedia or the Internet. Of course Trafigura never admitted to anything but neither has Glencore :)
Is it a trick question because the company to supply the oil in Zed is actually just a side kick who may have little to do with the scandals. Having said that corruption is in the DNA of the murky oil industry like most other industries :)
@20Â A Phiri ana bwe… you make good points.
Having googled and wipediaed Trafigura,Vitol and Glencore the three kings in the oil trading industry…it seems to me all of them are embroiled in scandals, and they seem to have the world at their mercy. It’s like you can’t buy oil unless through them.
Scrap what I just said. On reading the article again it appears the government is talking about corruption in the tender process in Zambia. I stand with my earlier opinion on this. All in all they didn’t have a great bunch to pick from and some of those Kenyan companies put Trafigura to shame as they do have ongoing cases :)
I could have worded this better. I think the government is MORE concerned about allegations of corruption in its tender process…Â
@Rycus – thanks. Googling all the companies who were bidding is an eye opener :) You’re right about the middlemen.Â
More to the point though it is sad that as much as there are people keen to end corruption, there appears to be too many foreign companies who in the west openly state that corruption is the only way to get business done in the ‘third world.’ They get away with the statements too!Â
@chitapi, if u hav been to college or university, u can’t depend on wikipedia for yr source of news
Is it nt the same useless wikipedia which claimed that HEMCS had been shot. That’s a discredited source of news
Ati “Mr Zulu said that security agencies cleared the company in the technical stage”, who says the agencies were not corrupted.
@23 A Phiri ana bwe…nice point.
So what options does the ‘third world’ have in this scenario? Some Zambian economist based in the US preaches that the third world must model their business practice on the Chinese paradigm. But then China is notorious for getting what they want by any means possible including corruption, and it takes us back to the huge parastatals that FTJ did away with afer wrestling power from KK.
I think we are left in a situation were we’re damned if we do business with these scandalous firms, and we’re damned if we don’t. We somehow loose either way.
@24 Shoko Sugi, he he, your name reminds me of the glorious ninja movies that I had forgotten about. Those were nice days…young and without a care in the world.
Trafigura knew of waste dangers
Contaminated earth collected into giant bags
Much of the chemical waste still remains in Abidjan
BBC Newsnight has uncovered evidence revealing that oil-trading company Trafigura knew that waste dumped in Ivory Coast in 2006 was hazardous.
Trafigura had persistently denied that the waste was harmful but internal e-mails show staff knew it was hazardous.
On Wednesday, Newsnight learned that Trafigura has offered to pay damages to settle a class action brought on behalf of 31,000 who said they were injured.
Up until now Trafigura has refused to settle, denying it was to blame.
The news of the settlement came as a UN report on claims that people had fallen sick or died as a result of the dump was published.
Fingers out of jam jar is a good start but realistically speaking there is a lot of double speak from nations who have their own corruption issues but know how to make it sound less prevalent. From the benefit cheat to the MP cheating on expenses it lies throughout systems including banking, police, military, education…
Perception is half our battle. People have become desensitised to the images they are fed and few seek further than what is provided for them. Travel and experience is exploration and lifestyle changing for one group and illegal economic activity for another. Most third world people due to perception are lumped into the latter. I’ll leave the economics to experts but changing perception is on all our heads. ‘Animal Farm’ mentality kills us :)
READERS BE INFORMED THIS GEORGE ZULU IS THE CONDUIT OF CORRUPTION BETWEEN MPEZENI AND UKWA SO HE IS QUITE UNTOUCHABLE. NO WONDER HE CAN TALK ANY NOSENSE. THIS IS THE CHAP WHO HAS REFUSED TO MOVE AS PS FROM THE ENERGY PORTIFOLIO’ HIS BROTHER IS ONE OF THE DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE SAME MINISTRY
So all you guys seem to be playing into the hands of the GRZ politicians! What they want is to make you recommend the expensive suppliers that they are not corrupt, then they get their commissions. Wake up dick heads!
Imwe ba koswe stop scandalising my government, *****s of tiny brains. We are fighting corruption tooth and nail. How foolishly you think we can turn around and abet corruption in oil procurement the Kennethy Konga style? By the way way how is he pulling through since collapsing amid interrogations over corrupt oil procurements?
The only corruption PF is against is that they presume to have been perpetrated by MMD. Â Any other corruption, including the “little” corruption that Sata mentioned in Vic Falls, is OK. Â After all, Sata is a master of “little” corruption, from Merzaf Flats to flying to the MMD Convention in 2001 the K2.5billion stolen from Parliament for which Katele Kalumba, Stella Chibanda et al have been convicted. Â These characters do not want to know the truth; they are just looking for somebody to harass. If you go with the facts of corruption to the ACC or Police, then they will see you as their enemy.
Kindly open this link and see the corruption of Trafifura
http://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/News/news/Trafigura-new-corruption-charges/ sorry this is the link
:(( Zambian leaders have a problem with maths…. there was a company that tendered the least price but as usual corruption took charge…that is why the poverty levels are increasing… look no further… we sit and watch as our mother country goes down the drain……. i fear for our children
READ THIS:
http://www.embavenez-uk.org/pdf/fs_transparency_international.pdf
…reports that Netherlands based oil company Trafigura Beheer had paid the the People’s National Party, the then governing party in Jamaica, a donation of $31 million.
…the corruption of the private company Trafigura — which made the payment — passed unremarked by Transparency International.
I CAN GIVE YOU MORE INFOR IF YOU NEED !!!
Trafigura is an Amsterdam-based multinational company founded in 1993 trading in base metals and energy, including oil. In 2008, the company had equity of more than $2 billion and a turnover of $73 billion that generated $440 million of profit.[4] By 2011, its revenue had increased to $121.5 billion and its profits to $1.11 billion.
It operates from 55 offices in 36 countries in Europe and North America, Central America, and South America, as well as in the Middle and Far East. It is the world’s third largest private oil and metals trader after Vitol and Glencore.
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