Nigeria’s Sarb Energy Limited managing director Akpan Ekpene has told a magistrate’s court that former Republican President Rupiah Banda requested for an advance payment of US$1 million from the oil deal to ‘boost’ his 2011 election campaigns.
The Lusaka magistrate’s court also heard yesterday that Banda’s son, Henry, set up a company in Hong Kong to facilitate receipt of the advance payment after faking to have engaged in a power plant project with Sarb Energy because the advance payment should have been sent to the Zambian Government.
This is in a matter in which Banda, 75, is charged with abuse of authority of office relating to procuring a government-to-government oil deal between Zambia and Nigeria.
Mr Ekpene, 46, told Chief Resident Magistrate Joshua Banda during continued trial yesterday that after the Nigerian government approved the oil deal for Zambia in which he had acted as an agent for Zambia.Banda allegedly requested him to make an advance payment of $1 million to use in his campaigns.
He said after former Zambian High Commissioner to Nigeria Richard Kachingwe, who was a special envoy to Nigeria in the oil deal, collected and signed the oil deal contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), he was invited to Zambia where he met with Banda at State House to explain the deal.
Mr Ekpene said while in a discussion with Banda, a young man who the former President later introduced as his son, Henry, came in the room and was delegated to deal with him on where to send the money.He said during the same meeting, he explained to Banda that since the contract had been signed, they would start lifting oil.
Mr Ekpene said Banda requested that since he was about to start his election campaigns, an advance payment of $1 million should be made available for use during the campaigns.
“His Excellency said please support us with a minimum of $1 million. I told him that we will do our best and his Excellency pointed at the young man (Henry) and said go with him and he will tell you what to do,” he said.
Mr Ekpene said he met Henry in a different room where he asked him what position he held in government but he told him that he was a private business executive.He said he asked Henry whether the account number he was going to avail him in which to channel the advance payment was in the name of government but he responded in the negative.
“I then said that it was going to a bit difficult to send the money because we had credit lines that we can easily tap to pay money to the Zambian government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. We already had that facility in place,” Mr Ekpene said.
He said he told Henry that since the money was to be sent to a non-government account he would need to offer him a service to justify the transferring of the money.He told him that this could be by way of generating documents in order to be able to transfer the money.
“This was so because we needed to show our bank where the money is going and for what purpose since it was not going to the Zambian government or the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,” he said.
He said he asked Henry to do a feasibility study to which he provided him with a project name which he could use to show the bank the reason why he wanted to make the payments.He said it took Henry about two months to get all the paper work done and he informed him that he had been able to set up a company in Hong Kong that would facilitate the transfer of the money.
“The feasibility study was for the power plant and we were going to make payment going by that. The idea behind was that his Excellency had requested that we make an advancement payment for him to purchase campaign materials,” Mr Ekepene said.
He said in September 2011, $500, 000 was sent to a Barclays Bank Singapore account which Henry provided but as the elections drew nearer, Henry mounted pressure for him to send more money.He said he was conscious about risking his business in case government changed hands.
Mr Ekepene said a few days before elections he sent $50, 000 though the money was sent back to him since by the time it was arriving two days after the elections, the bank account in Singapore had been closed.
He said he did not hear from Henry after the elections although Banda called him when he was in Boston and Chad telling him that the man he was sending to Nigeria (Maj Kachingwe) had turned against him and that he should never communicate with him.
Trial continues.
[Times of Zambia]
This is becoming interesting. Let us wait and see
sad story .I feel for RB .it sound like swindling .
RB is a selfish chicken with his own interest at hid tiny heart. He never cared for Zambia. Chimbwi wala!!
Is he going to be forgiven?
I cant wait to hear what the defence team has the will exonerate Rupiah and secure his acquittal.
And HH gave RB solidality.
Don’t get over excited. Kachingwe has confirmed that the Zambian Govt never paid anything. He has also confirmed that the he is the one that did the job to fraudulently make the official Zambian seal. If the Govt hasn’t lost any money and RB managed that deal, what is the illegal act that has caused these expensive trials? Soliciting for campaign money?
i can see in the pic above mmd chiefbootlicker in black glasses with mutati
Spot on,Abena chief bootlicker doing what they do best, licking the boot lol!
Nkani yalula. The watchdog are not reporting on this story and what judge Wood told the tribunal yesterday.I have always suspected that they benefitted from this loot.
Some people made a lot of noise when RB’s passport was cancelled. Well below is the reason why Govt acted in that way. Tik Tak Tik Tak for RB.
He said he did not hear from Henry after the elections although Banda called him when he was in Boston and Chad telling him that the man he was sending to Nigeria (Maj Kachingwe) had turned against him and that he should never communicate with him.
And you believe the Nigerian man? Who has also travelled from as far as Nigeria to be a witness for the State. Does it not raise some questions for you as to why this (apparently) big oil business man would want to give his precious valuable time to the Zambian Govt? Or is it because their is an oil deal waiting for him after they succeed. Who is paying for his stay?
I think this testimony is damaging RB and puts him in a very tight corner.
Am not a lawyer but i fail to see common logic in the above statement. The contract was supposed to be between the governments of Nigeria & Zambia ,but how come it was reduced to only 2 people Henry & Ekpene? specific dates are also missing to connect Ekpene with former energy minister Konga who in Kachingwe’s statement had met at state house. We wait for cross examination.
You cannot expect regular procedure in an irregular transaction..
IWE, HENRY CAME IN TO PROVIDE FEASIBILITY(fake) STUDIES FOR THROUGH WHICH THE MONIES RB REQUEST WAS TO BE PAID THROUGH.
YES,LETS WAIT FOR CROSS EXAMS
I can’t understand.The company which was supposed supply oil should pay.Read the story.This chap from Nigeria calls Henry ‘young man’.Him is only 46.how old is henry. The chap has been bribed.He has failed hope the judge can interpret this fix.
Such deals are smilar to those of the FTJs,instead of a minister of Finance being involved it was a Mr.Kabwe signing on behalf of the gov.Now with RB it was very sad that he involved his children,just in three years of sangwapo presidency.Batola imishngo bati nokuti”LEGACY” by the way some of these chaps ranning away from MMD the likes of Ka Namulambe these must be part of this story.Dora abwela……..
Is it illegal to ask for a loan? The loan was specifically for RB and not for the Zambian government because he was specific in what the intention of the money was for? Its RB or MMD to pay back the money not the government.
the oil was to be sold as it could not be refined in Zambia and the Zambian govt was to get the proceed of the sale.Bnada asked for a down payment from the proceeds that were to go to govt for mmd campaigns which is illegal and on top of that it wient into a private account opened by henry-if you still do not understand this l will type slowly as you may have dyslexia
Ya RB will came out of this trial not guilty,believe it or not.
Keep on dreaming.
THIS IS SAD. MR RB MUST HAVE BEEN CAREFUL HOW HE RULED. AND UPND WITH MMD WERE BUSY SUPPORTING THIS MAN. UPND MUST BE TREATED AS EQUALLY CORRUPT AND MUST NEVER BE VOTED FORM RB IS NOW IN THE NET
The evidence is not very authentic to me. Its leaving a lot of putches
ofcourse to you who does not know the difference between patches and putches if the later even exists.
He is in hot soup. Now I know where the money for chitenje materials for trees and dogs came from. The Judge who said RB was not a flight risk should be awakened from sleep. Well done Edgar Lungu for shredding RB’s passport and blocking RB’s departure! I can’t wait for RB to be in the witness box!! Iye chifundo ne nsoni newo!
What is it from the evidence provided suggests that RB was a flight risk?
but what is the case here. if Henry swindled this guy out of USD 500 000 then the zambian govrnment has not lost any money and as far as we are concerned this nogerian guy has not sued RB for this. there is no case here
I concur. This is more a case of the 419ers getting beaten at their own game by RB and Sons Plc. If the State released no money then nothing was lost. Where did the oil go since it could not be processed @ INDENI? The case is weak. Kachingwe’s testimony lacks evidence of getting instructions from RB. The defense can actually claim Kachingwe is the one who abused authority of office. Bad as it may be, the office did not exist at the time anyway.
you are thick mate thick!! it was a govt to govt deal-and because Nigerian oil could not be refined in Zambia it was to be sold and the proceeds given to the Zambian govt-it was from those proceeds that RB asked for a down payment -from monies meant for govt to go to his campaigns which is illegal as this was a govt to govt deal and to make it worse or more irregular the down payment went into a private account-if ou still do not understand l suggest you call the doctor as you may be mentally challenged
Iwe, you should learn to read thoroughly. The Us$500,000 that SARB sent to a private Barclays bank account in Singapore is GRZ money which Rb diverted to his son’s account. Are you over corrupt that you cannot see staright forward issues? Who will refund GRZ the money RB irresponsibly diverted?
Atase, you should shine your eyes, that is why this country is poor!
What type of moron are you? It says the money was meant to go to the Zambian government, but was diverted. THINK!
Al and supporters of the state,
Don’t be so trivial, this is a criminal matter. What evidence have we seen to confirm that this was a Govt to Govt deal? What we know for sure is that RB has not signed anything nor is their evidence of the late Nigerian president having signed anything on behalf of Nigeria. The authenticity of the letter out of State house was questionable. Kachingwe has confirmed that The Zambian Govt never paid anything nor were they expected to. The money was to be paid by SARB owned by this Akpane. Kachingwe also confirmed to have personally forged documents (Zambian seal) in Nigeria. This Akpane is now saying that RB sought an advance for campaign funds through Henry Banda. The only clear thing here is that there was no Govt to Govt deal and RB played little part in…
This testimony does not make sense. Why was SARB willing to pay a “facilitation” fee to the Zambian Government, which was an importer and not exporter of Nigeria Oil. It would only make sense if the oil did not reach Zambia and was instead on-sold at a mark-up. The payment to RB would then be the proceeds that should have gone to the Zambian Government account.
Finally, someone is starting to get the gist of the matter! The Nigerian oil could not be processed at Indeni and was for onward sale with Zambia making approximately Us$300,000 per consignment. Therefore the diverted funds belong to GRZ, i.e. YOU & I! Hooray!
@MundiaM
This deal is a deal between Henry Banda with Kachingwe and SARB of Nigeria trying to use Zambia to pull this corrupt deal through. Kachingwe and Akpane are now trying very hard to put) at the “centre” of it to ensure that “assist” Govt in return of whatever they have been promised. How come we do not have state witnesses from the Nigerian Govt to confirm that this was indeed a Govt to Govt deal. Why is Zambia not expected to pay anything for the oil (but just wait for the proceeds). This is a classic case of a Nigerian conman convincing Kachingwe when he was Ambassodor that they can pull a big oil deal if he can convince the NNPC that the deal was for Zambia. To do so, he brought Akpane to Zambia and RB passed the deal to his Son. Forged documents show that RB did not…
Whats wrong with that if it was within his rights,is it a myth or wrong for a president to ask for credit? After all he had and still has family and bills to pay! Find something else to pin him down on not ifi iyo!
If he didnt pay just ask him to pay is that difficult to do i wonder why people make mountains out of mole hills!
Mountains out of mole hills? Your arse! This is Himalayas in Zambian fraud terms, man. He diverted GRZ money to his son’s private account, his son forged documents to claim payment for consultancy which never happened and you moron want to call this credit? Are you for real? Keep quite even if you live with RB & sons. F00L!
Thank you sir for your very mature outrage you sure are so right keep it up, am sure this has made your day!
Cindy…
chwe chwe chwe!!! cindy’s G string is down today.
MundiaM 3 cindy 0.
@mundiaM tekanya nokoh ichinyoh,let this nigerian fraud tender the documents of the transactions to the court, if kachingwe the star witness sweated whatabout this ekpen fraud,do you think a nigerian would easily lose money like that?unless he is fulani maybe.these are mutembo nchitos recruits
you stupid!! There are procedures that have to be followedcesp. govt to govt. deals. How does a whole STUPID president like RB big as he is go to transanct with a 46 year businessman instead of the President of Nigeria? Mwenkokomwe, you cant even add 1 and 1.
RB in HOTWATER will he survive in this
Graffiti.
There is one of many smoking guns this **** Ala Bee is a vile thieving **** I tell you.
I am totally nauseated by how crafty and bold RB and son’s were thieving from this nation. This guy is really ripe for a jail sentence! No preferential treatment, he should serve his sentence in Chimbokaila to teach all to be thieving presidents that we will spare no criminal.
Remember Mtembo nchito went to nigeria with Kachingwe just to buy a fake witness.This is a dead case against RB
This plainly money laundering and corruption. First Henry makes 1million revenue in a fake company = money laundering. RB asks for a kick back = corruption. Let is see how this will go.
This is purely a personal business transaction going on. Where is the Nigerian government? Where is the Zambian government? All along the Prosecution has called this ‘a government to government’ transaction!
It looks like it was Banda to Nigerian Petroleum Co. through Kachingwe and Ekpene as agents.
Lock up the Nigeria guy he is an *****.
He said he told Henry that since the money was to be sent to a non-government account he would need to offer him a service to justify the transferring of the money.He told him that this could be by way of generating documents in order to be able to transfer the money.
“This was so because we needed to show our bank where the money is going and for what purpose since it was not going to the Zambian government or the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,” he said.
The Saint, remember that there is a contract which states that it is a government to government contract, while RB & Ekpene where behaving like proprietors of Zambia & Nigeria respectively.
Continue following this statement and you will be appalled if you are brave or just be angry if weak and emotional.
@MundiaM
The money paid by SARB to Henry was for the feasibility Power Plant and not the proposed oil deal according to the evidence from Akapena! . There is a clear case of our Govt trying to bring RB at the centre of all this but the evidence isn’t just there to make the case (whether or not he was actively involved). I’m more inclined to believe he wasn’t because there was no need for Kachingwe to be forging Zambian Official documents.
Imunyokole jele bwezani…..waluta mkwasu…
Lomba asiye ka Thandi? Amutolele anyamata!!!
mujele olo isaima yake ili tyala bwino ndaba unganyate katele…..
The Money the Nigerian sent was for feasibility study for an energy plant and henry is still conducting the feasibility study.
This is a straight forward case of fraud and plunder that should be easy to prosecute and send RB & Son to jail. I am sad that some bloggers don’t see anything wrong in RB’s misdemeanors. I mean anyone with a Pentium 1 brain can easily see that RB and his son are crooks. Money meant for Zambians went into his personal account. That’s stealing! Pocketing what isn’t yours.
But Kachingwe’s has confirmed that Zambia didn’t pay anything nor was it expected to. According to his evidence SARB was the company expected to pay the NNPC for the oil deal. But why should SARB pay if the oil was for Zambia? This was a fraudulent deal ok! But the Evidence is pointing strongly to Kachingwe and not RB. If this Akapena business man has testified that the payment he made was for a power plant and has evidence for that. Why should the court believe otherwise? Or even that this payment had anything to do with the oil deal? How do we believe that the claim that the payment was for “campaign funds” why can’t we believe that the conveniently “passing through” Nigeria by the DPP (to see a Zambian officer who was in Nigeria for only 4 days) was to plant this idea of…
Please gvt am on my knees don’t allow the suspect to fly out UTH has managed more serious complications than the common footballers problem.
Getting interesting, the outsider who was involved in one of RB scandals has testified and has clearly put it in black and white for everybody with normal sense to see that RB ni Mafia, pompwe. The big man has been undressed completely and he deserves jail sentence aliba. It even explains why his son Henry is hiding yakosa bola.
I see RB acquitted on this one. Zambia never spent or lost any Money.
Ubututu bwamoneka……..if you are not in tune with the zambian laws just shut your mouth.
I hate Sata and his government but RB and his son stole from the Zambian people. Cage him, he was so pompous when he was president and he thought he was untouchable. This should serve as a warning to Sata and his minions.
Atase palibe case apa, Let ka mmembe and his thugs pay back 18 million rebased kwacha chapwa.
Icasa kanua cibi……Ubuwelewele.
RB was & is a let down at over 70 years and after seeing FTJ’s woes surely couldn’t he find a speck of wisdom to refrain from such sleazy deals!
I can see ba shimpundu itoloshi lyalasensela. The facts and the truth now unfolding,Rb has been a crook.If all these stories about the fall of Bwezani sugar dad were lies,why did this chap Henry ran away?Alipola nanomba ati mwina South Africa since when.?
Having read the verbatim cross examination of Kachingwe I’m afraid the state has a weak case. Its Kachingwe statement against RB. How in the world did he delete vital evidence linking RB to the transaction? He claims the e-mail confirming payment was given to RB thereafter he deleted the e-mail without keeping a copy for himself. Come on who does that?
THERE’S A WAY OF RECAPTURING DELETED EMAIL MESSAGES, THAT’S THE BEAUTY ABOUT TECHNOLOGY THESE DAYS. SO BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU EMAIL, ANYTHING THAT GOES CYBER CAN BE RETRACED MAY YEARS AFTER DELETION.
ZWD are not reporting this. They are ashamed . This is why I like Lusaka times they are factual and not biased. I hate this government but R B children were behaving like Khadafi’s children , not in government but more powerful than ministers
who told you? Mighty ZWD is studying this nigerian fraud,they will be giving us insights shortly
u r right @t Boy he will use the same money to bribe our corrupt judiciary,….tired of these nonsense pa zeeee…
Where’s MMD Chief Bootlicker to break this down for me.
Reading long arsed articles is not on my agenda for the day.
All the Zambian government has to do is request the Singapore Government to provide details of the account used (name/transaction details) to corraborate the allegation of the $500,000 transfer (Barclays Bank Singapore-domiciled account). Of course, they can start by getting the account # and name from Akpan Ekpene. Case Closed.
Cross examination please?
Its sad to see the desperate attempt by the state has used to get RB. Looking at the proceedings in court a lay person can see that fake exhibits such as the letter was produced as evidence in court and what a coincidence that Kachingwe and Nchito happened to be in Nigeria at the same time. Worse still Kachingwe got in touch with the star witness. I have never seen such evil in my life.Please fellow Zambaian look beyod the screaming headlines of the post newspaper that has put us in this mess
Man you ate alone with your uncle RB. Brace yourselves for the pending imprisonment guys. Which Zambian do you think will sympathize with you and your uncle given the bad way you ruled Zambia? Every Zambian saw it. By the way where is HH to give support to RB in this case?
@ TRUTH HATES ( I BELIEVE SHOULD READ TRUTH HURTS) THE BEAUTY ABOUT BLOGGING IS THTA YOU DONT KNOW THE PERSON THAT POST COMMENTS SO IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO BELIEVE THAT I NEVER BENEFITTED IN ANY WAY DURING BANDA’S REIGN.MY REASONG BEHIND VOTING FOR HIM WAS THEA HE WAS A LESSER DEVIL THAN WHAT WE HAVE IN STATE HOUSE RIGHT NOW. I REMEMBER MCS IN THE SCORPION KADIBO’S DAYS AND HIM SPEAHEADING THE THE THIRD TERM.WHEN HE WAS NATIONAL SECRETAY OF MMD ALL WE USED TO SEE IN THE PRESS WS SUPSENION OF MEMBERS. I WOULD BE QUIET HAPPY TO HEAR THE FACTUAL EVIDENC IF AT ALL THE PROSECUTION TEAM HAS ANY ITS DIFFICULY TO RELY ON VERBAL STATEMENTS FROM KACHINGWE SEEING THAT HE IS NOT A CREDIBLE WITNESS
GRZ was to benefit from the proceeds that they had not invested any money?Was oil delivered? If it was to who? And is there proof that the recepient of the said oil paid and to who did they pay?And if Mr Banda stole, from whom did he steal?