Friday, March 29, 2024

Former Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba arrested for corruption involving over $33 million

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The Anti-Corruption Commission has arrested former Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba for corrupt practices involving over US$33million.

Mr Yamba, 62, of Lusaka has been arrested and charged with one count of willful failure to comply with applicable law and procedure relating to procurement contrary to Section 34 (2) (b) of the Anti-Corruption Act No. 3 of 2012.

In 2018, Yamba did not follow the procedure when he authorized an advance payment of US$33, 750,000.00 to China Energy Engineering Group – Hunan Electric Power Design Institute Co. Ltd for the construction of FTJ Chiluba University in Mansa and Kasama under the Ministry of Higher Education. The said money was paid to the contractor but todate no university has been constructed.

In the same matter, the ACC has also arrested Joseph Phiri, an architect at the Ministry of Higher Education, for attempting to fraudulently facilitate a payment amounting to US$ 29,186,169.09 to China Energy Engineering Group–Hunan Electric Power Design Institute Co. Ltd.

Mr Phiri, 57 of Lusaka has been arrested and charged with one count of fraudulent facilitation of payment contrary to section 34 (2) (a) as reading together with section 40(2) of the Anti-Corruption Act No.3 of 2012.

Phiri, being an Architect at the Ministry of General Education and Project Manager for the construction of FTJ Chiluba University in Mansa and Kasama, in 2018, did attempt to fraudulently facilitate payment to China Energy Engineering Group–Hunan Electric Power Design Institute Co. Ltd by signing and issuing an Interim Payment Certificate No. 2 valued at US$ 29,186,169.09 with an inflated sum of US$7,578,772.41 for goods purportedly supplied when in fact not.

The Commission is also pursuing Joseph Ngulube, a Quantity Surveyor at the Ministry of Higher Education in relation to the same matter.

Mr. Joseph Phiri has since appeared in Court and has been granted bail by the Court while Mr Yamba is expected to appear in Court soon.

29 COMMENTS

  1. Then you hear ati targeting one tribe……….

    Deja vu Etal, saulosi , moscow OP ……..

    what have you got to say ?

    Money paid without following procedures……

    And no goods delivered……….???

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  2. #1 Spaka. A thief can come from any tribe and these are plain thieves regardless of their tribe. It’s a straight forward case unlike where you are fishing for reasons to pickup someone. One thing I know starting from local councils the thieves are likely to be controlling Officers not elected officials. I did a case study at one the councils for my NGO on this subject. Elected officials normally use influence to get something.

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  3. Spaka..by the way the fact is that you group everyone who doesn’t support Upnd blunders as PF members and very soon you’ll include Shishuwa Shishuwa.

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  4. I am surprised Deja Vu has not come out shamelessly moaning about ACC targetting oppenents….here is your money awarded to a contractor for a University for our children only for the money to end up in pockets not a single brick laid on site. And this was the same govt that was failing to pay off a $42 million Eurobond coupon resulting in Zambia defaulting. This is just the tip of the iceberg by the way Yamba was just a tool in this deal as a civil servant can not do this alone especially for a project in Mansa …Politicians are involved in it especially area MPs even State House. Govt need to investigate all projects awarded di=uring Lazy Lungu regime.

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  5. #2  Deja Vu 
    May 5, 2022 At 7:48 am

    “#1 Spaka. A thief can come from any tribe and these are plain thieves regardless..”

    That may be true………….

    But the fact remains PF and lungu had people from 2 regions in positions of influence where money was being stolen…………

    When we say the clique of theives are not happy with the anti corruption crusade to prosecute former GRZ officials , we know why you are not happy and crying tribal persecution………….

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  6. Is there no work for architects that they have to do project management work? This is greed and only breeds corruption.

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  7. The company that received the money must be jointly charged for the offence. It takes two parties to tangle and this Hunan fimo-fimo should be prosecuted too.

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  8. There was wholesale stealing of goverment funds under lungu…………

    There is no way lungu did not know about the rampat thefts under him………….

    HEHH needs to come clean on what immunity and safe passage lungu was granted to accept the election results………………..

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  9. Upnd cadre from Ngombe… – Zambia you have civil servants who work in the Tender and Procurement Offices moonlighting as bidwriters for the Chink Main Contractors …these are the same guys who assess bids for construction projects.

  10. No. 7 – Some of these Chink construction companies like China Energy Engineering Group – Hunan Electric Power Design Institute Co. Ltd are banned in Botswana due to corruption and World Bank has black listed them…if UPND was really serious about fighting corruption they should banished these companies as they will do the same again with current ministers and senior civil servants.
    Its only in Zambia where Judges are issued warn and caution by the ACC and continue to work….that’s like a Bank Cashier merely given a telling off for helping himself with transport money from the till which is unheard of because its an sackable offence.

  11. You can tell a bad General by the number of Lieutenants that he loses. The amounts involved are scary and how can a person endowed with the least modicum of morality and common sense do such a thing? It’s obvious that Fredson couldn’t do such a thing alone especially when you look at the figures involved. Cast the net wide and you’ll find BoZ involved. My advice to people that serve in these positions is that when you receive illicit instructions from above please don’t try to be a good boy. Resign and tell the world why you did it. Now look at how embarrassing this is?

  12. This is a run of the mill breach of contract. Unfortunately reveals ” Ubututu” yet again!!!!
    .

  13. Ayatollah – This is why I advocated for HH7 to sack his Foreign Affairs Minister to send a strong message especially to the Chinks…because this is how the operate whatever you want they will do it. I remember back when this project was commissioned I laughed at how a university can cost around $50 million like a secondary school.

  14. Zambia borrowed $6.6 billion from the Chinese. The Zambian government officials then proceeded to share the money with the Chinese and promised to pay back the loan to the Chinese in full with interest. Very clever of the PF.

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  15. Bane, let’s wait for the case to commence in court and hear the facts.
    Personally, I have no faith in the ACC. They do shoddy and lopsided investigations and end up losing the cases in court .
    If you don’t agree with me, how many convictions has the ACC recorded since the launch of the corruption fight by upnd govt? Probably zero.
    You have to prove that Fredson Yamba actually benefited from the said actions to prove corruption. Much like the case against former health PS malama. Just because you sign something in your official capacity does not in itself entail corruption.
    Iam not supporting wrong doing.
    All that Iam saying is that don’t judge the man before his day in court,unless you trust our ACC.

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  16. #4 Tarino Orange…. this is straight forward theft which only a deliberately blind person can argue about. I only argue where I see persecution disguised as a fight against Corruption. Yamba has obviously stolen so how I defend a wrong?

  17. There is a stinking legacy of left behind by late former minister of finance Alexander Chikwanda. No further explanation, next will be Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (KKIA). Shocking, if you lay hands on KKIA original plan, would have been like a tween of Bole International Airport (BIA) in Ethiopia. Mr Chikwanda’s fingers all over altered original plans left Zambia with KKIA looks a quarter of BIA. All KKIA frauds signals, lead to Chikwanda and his son.

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  18. So what about this company “China Energy Engineering Group..” Is it based in Zambia or China? Because they need to be held accountable too, and made to return the fraudulently obtained monies. They are co – conspirators , if they took the money knowing fully well that they would not be building anything in return. So thoroughly investigate this company’s dealings in Zambia, and see what else they may have been involved in. Hold accountable their leadership, prosecute them, jail, and then kick them out of the country, if found wanting. They sound more like an organized criminal syndicate to me, and not a legitimate company, if they were engaging in corrupt dealings with traitorous criminal minded Zambians.

  19. The Chinese out side China are the most corrupt people on the planet………..

    Not even indians can touch them…….

  20. The ACC and DEC are not arresting former senior government officials who stole money on tribal lines. These guys looted our resources. Even amongst Bemba people we had clean honest ministers like Nkandu Luo just like we had honest Tonga ministers such as Edify Hamukale . So nothing is tribal these guys got what did not belong to them. My Big question is where was President Lungu when all these wrongs were being done under his supervision? Are we saying the OP, DEC and ACC were not reporting these thefts to him and other relevant offices? How can $ 33 000 000 be paid out without the president knowing about it? These are the questions that DEC, ACC and Zambia police should extrapolate further otherwise this is too much money Mr Yamba paid out for a non existing university . The…

  21. I am a UPND cardholder & staunch supporter that was in Zambia campaigning in Western Province from 15th July 2021 to 11 August 2021. The truth of the matter is that the current ministers and permanent secretaries are all too busy working to enrich themselves. Foreign Minister, Mr Kakabu was the only dimwit who got caught. Suddenly, there is a countless number of companies that have been registered by people in government using their wives, daughters and sons for procurement contracts. It stinks, and it’s like HH has told them that take advantage of this time and opportunity while I am in power. He has put a totally blind eye on his government. Under PF it was done in the open and boastful now it is under the carpet. I now agree with those who say the corruption fight is double standards.

  22. Three people have surrendered $3.7m part of what they stole and the nation has not been told who they are, because the government has given them immunity as announced by the VP. How do we even know that these funds have been handed back to the government or that the people that took the money have shared it among themselves?

  23. Can US$33 million be paid without the Minister of Finance not knowing about the payment? There are accounting staff who prepared the supporting documents, the officials who signed and the bank officials who processed the payment. This trail will have to be retraced in court, including the company that was paid, why it was being paid and hw they accounted for the payment.

  24. You a useless chap who was a mere villager 10 years ago like Micheal Zondani Katambo (former PF Agric Minister) telling us that he bought maize valued at half million from Chitotela (Former Tourism Minister) …you wonder where these people got all this money then you see cases like this.

  25. Eye-watering amounts! One wonders how these people can sleep at night, knowing they’re depriving everyone else by hoarding public money. No surprise then, that, even a young lady, not old enough to have earned – by hard honest work – such amounts of cash, could be found hoarding millions of USDs. Our average citizens are at the receiving end of rampant conmanship. It’s disgraceful!

    #plant a tree please.

  26. Hmmm, interesting indeed. Is it just me or is every Zambian noticing that our Presidents seem to be held to ransom by the people they have appointed to positions? Why did HH’s foreign affairs Minister not open the bag for all to see? There would be no speculation and yet HH believes him?!? A shadow of doubt remains…I am beginning to believe that even ECL was not that bad – he was scared of the people he appointed and they operated as they willed.
    Until we get leaders that will use the powers vested in them without fear of favor, I am afraid Zambians will always have a raw deal.

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