Libyan telecoms investor LAP GreenN is threatening to seize Zambia’s international assets because it says the government owes it US$380 million.
The debt dates back to Zambia’s nationalisation of Zamtel in 2012, a year after LAP GreenN bought the company from the previous administration for $257 million.
Faisel Gergab, Chairman of the Libyan Post Telecommunications and Information Technology Company, a holding company that manages Libya’s telecoms assets, said the company has found itself forced to assess other options to claim the debt it says Zambia owes.
In 2011 Zambian justice minister Sebastian Zulu said the sale to the Libyan investor was “a fraud”.
He said the previous administration acted with “extreme haste and did not follow normal tender procedures and renders the transaction illegal”.
But Zulu himself lost his government role shortly after.
Almost a decade later, Libya is still trying to recoup the money from Zambia – even though Zambia lost a case three years ago before the High Court in London.
Libya says it has patiently sought an amicable resolution to the dispute.
The Bloomberg news agency has quoted an email from Gergab saying LAP GreenN “will use all avenues or remedies available to it if the defaults continue”.
This is like trying to get milk from a rock. Zambia is broke. Brings back memories of the seizure of our Zambia Airways DC-10 when it landed in Europe in the eighties. Creditors will start popping up because word is now going round that we are in default mode. KCM issue is another issue that might create a debt problem in the bear future.
*near future
Very good go for it stuppid people don’t deserve any better.
Let the Zambian government constitute commission of enquiry
Into who sold lapgreen and how to
Pay the debt to lapgreen.
Go for it Lapgreen. Squeeze some juice from a dry stone. Zambia is broke mind you but its worth trying. The person who sold you the assets is alive and just turned 50 last week. She can give you back some of the kick backs she got from the bogus sale.
Disaster!!!!
What’s the Solicitor General doing about this? The PF lawlessness is clearly manifested in the number of litigations and compensations that are lying at the Ministry of Justice, it’s unprecedented.
Failures in everything. We need a new and fresh government please, with fresh ideas
Problems after problems…….and yet we say we want privatization enquiry. Zambians don’t know what they want.
My beloved Zambia is in serious soup guys. May God help us.
Look now , there were some well known PF rats on LT screaming national security breach after the sale to lap green , yet the same thick rats are happy with the Chinese controlling your digital broadcast network ????
You are very du.ll
You know your selves , with your semi illiterate sata who though Zambia’s capacity to borrow was unlimited
ba Dora muleti shani? since you are the government spokesperson….the same speed at which you rush to respond to anything opposition related..is awaited here.
Initial cash payment would prove willingness to settle debt. The actual amount could be flexible. However small the amount, it would reestablish communication channels. Even a 38 million would go a long way. After initial installment is settled, then fresh negotiations could ensue. Take time to understand Arab culture. Take time to understand Islamic culture. Take time to understand Maghreb. Take time to understand Africa.
Vindication over privatisation mantra – yes go protest over the sale of Zamtel to Libya Lap Green N and single out the person who sold Zamtel.
Go on protest and protest to your god. You who are intellectually emaciated, you who think an individual can sell a large national asset with a government in power. This lack of correct perception of national accountability of a government and relegate it to an individual is utterly mind boggling. Zambians, wake up and lots of us know the truth but being detracted by the dishonesty of those in power. Some one has to own up.
Who sold Zamtel? Who got the kickbacks? Was it HH?
Two assets mishandled by the PF
ZAMTEL – under Lapgreen owned by Libyans
KCM – under Vedanta owned by Indians.
Zambia will be liable for close to a billion in USD and will have their international assets seized and liquidated.
After 2021, we need to disclose property hidden overseas by the PF criminals and request for these to be seized instead.
We are still feeling the brunt of the irresponsible mmd who sold our country. We will fight this till the end because that is what Patriots do
In zambia everything needs
Commission of enquiry. So let’s
Keep on setting one after another.
This is one of the saddest chapters in our Country. In 2011 Zambians with the vested interest of Fred Mmembe removed a responsible and frugal government and elected a rubble of a Party owned by one person with little knowledge. They took over an economy that was one of the fastest growing in Africa and have in ten years reduced it to a shambles. It was one of the fastest growing as Chikwanda acknowledges in his 2012 Budget address. A succession of decisions have brought us to penury and bankruptcy. One of those uninformed decisions was the needless nationalisation of Zamtel. Zamtel was sold to Lapgreen after a competitive tender and they paid in full. Further, they fulfilled their undertakings and refinanced the company and it became a real contributor to the treasury. The ignorants…
…the ignorants accused Lapgreen and chased them out of Zambia as if the sale was a village transaction that could not be litigated. We now have a limping Zamtel and a US$400milion debt with no money in our acoount to settle the debt. What kind of fo.olishness is this. We have been led into a blunder and we should cut our losses. To do so, Dora Siliya and those who made the decision to sell and are now in the PF should stand by their decision. Lapgreen should be offered to take back the company while we accept to pay a smaller amount in penalties. This way we may be able to get away with our pants.
KZ your moronic view over privatisation is nauseating. A few weeks ago you supported views from your fellow pf cadres that national privatisation was done by an individual who was not even in government, a very myopic perception, today you claim MMD privatised Zambian assets. No wonder Zambia is bankrupt.
The Zamtel story is one of the saddest chapters in our Country. In 2011 Zambians with the vested interest of Fred Mmembe removed a responsible and frugal government and elected a rubble of a Party owned by one person with little knowledge. They took over an economy that was one of the fastest growing in Africa and have in ten years reduced it to a shambles. It was one of the fastest growing as Chikwanda acknowledges in his 2012 Budget address. A succession of decisions have brought us to penury and bankruptcy. One of those uninformed decisions was the needless nationalisation of Zamtel. Zamtel was sold to Lapgreen after a competitive tender and they paid in full. Further, they fulfilled their undertakings and refinanced the company and it became a real contributor to the treasury…
I once did a run with a Bailiff outfit owned by a friend ku Zed. The stuff we confiscated was about 10% of the value owed. It was depressing for the creditor who was at his wits end about how to recoup his investment. It appears Zambia is in a similar position. By the way, do we even have foreign assets outside of diplomatic real estate?
@Nkole waMapembwe, I admire your command of the English language but more so your ability to express ideas effectively with thoughtful selection of words. Now to PF apologists why don’t you just tell your God to repossess all the government houses and assets that you believe were fraudulently privatized from Namushakende to Nkana and spare us your the noise from your loud mouths? You have a precedent in Zamtel.
Lapgreen should take Zambia to a serious court. I have been hearing about this threat for sometime now.
Ba PF bafwaya ukuba kama Pamukoshi.
May I know the person who sold Zamtel, since in the PF and its surrogate NGOs’ world, an individual can sell a state enterprise.
May I know the person who sold Zamtel, since in the PF and its surrogate NGOs’ world, an individual can sell a state enterprise.
This is the legacy of that madman sata who could do things on a whim without following laid down procedure. He messed up the sale of zamtel and ZR. He is the one who also gave us lungu.
The MMD government was the waste thing that happened to Zambia. Honestly speaking how on earth do you sale a telecommunications company!
Zambian reasoning and way of doing politics is quite shocking. After reading the comments above, one would wonder how patriotic Zambians are. I wonder how the above comments will translate into voting the opposition. The few people who have access to social media do not inspire the masses but just irritates with hate speech. Whom are you trying to provoke? The Libyan company you advocating for does not even know that you exist and may not see your comment to appreciate you support for them by demeaning your own country.
Nonsense.
The deal was about Muhama Gadaffi and Ni Zamtel yanyioko Banda.
These Libyans got profits already.
Ukutemwa indalama ba abalungwana aba.
Ok mwaliZonkela bankusa.