Former Finance Minister Ngandu Magande has jumped to the defence of late President Levy Mwanawasa over the controversial sale of Konkola Copper Mines to Vedanta Resources Plc.
Mr Magande said President Mwanawasa was a very upright man and does not deserve condemnation over the KCM transaction.
He said President Mwanawasa was faced with a difficult situation after Anglo American pulled out of KCM.
“The man did the right thing to do. His administration was under so much pressure after Anglo left. The Mwanawasa Government was losing US$ 1 million pay day to keep the mine afloat. It was important that a new owner with strong financial muscle is found to run the mine,” Mr Magande said.
He added, “As a nation, let us not read so much into the sale price. The US$ 25 million is very low if you consider today’s price levels but nobody expected copper prices to hit these high levels. When the late President was negotiating the sale of Konkola, his main preoccupation was safeguarding the jobs because people were going to riot if that mine closed even for a day.”
Mr Magande also clarified that he was not the Minister of Finance when the mine was sold.
“Let me clarify the notion that I was the one who signed off the purchase agreement. I was not a Minister in the Mwanawasa administration during the KCM transaction. I joined his government in June 2004. The Minister at the time was late Emmanuel Kasonde,” he said.
Mr Magande said he believes Dr Mwanawasa and his team did what was the best for the nation at the time given the circumstances.
Meanwhile, a reliable source from Zambia Revenue Authority says it would be prudent for ZRA to check whether the statement from Vedanta Chairman Mr Agarwal is at variance with profits declared.
“Obviously it would be prudent for Zambia Revenue Authority to check whether the statement from Mr Agarwal is at variance with profits declared and if need be make tax adjustments with possible resultant penalties and interest,” the ZRA source said.
In a video posted on You Tube, Mr Agarwal stated that KCM is making a minimum of US$500 million per year from the time the mine was acquired by Vedanta Resources Plc.
All Zambian Systems including ZRA and Immigration need to be restructured. Learn from the USA where investors doing Business in the USA are double taxed whether as legal immigrants or citizens in the USA and on whatever businesses they have in other countries, you can’t hide from the USA Internal Revenue Services (IRS) equivalent to ZRA they will get you whether one stashes profits, incomes in other overseas Businesses they will find them and tax them.
ZRA needs to think outside of the box, when handling KCM. Agrawal makes $500million, through Tax Avoidance by procuring almost everything KCM uses from Indian and Indian Companies at very inflated prices. An item costing $1 000/- will be bought from Indian at $10 000/- from friends and relatives. The difference is what forms part of the $500million a year.
Expect ZRA therefore to pernalise KCM based on Agrawal’s pronouncements and not what you will find in the books locally. Indians are crooks.
Dead men can’t talk. Magande is covering something, open a tribunal on him!
Thats what i am talking about ZRA please tax the guy based on his pronouncements dont follow the cooked books of his at KCM offices or if you verify using his cooked books at KCM make sure you disallow 35% on every expenditure so that you arive at $500m adjusted profits for tax purpose yearly then do the justice, it is as simple as that just include us on that delegation you will see and shame on Delloite, KPMG PWC ma rubish coz you audit KCM
This attitude of Foreigners being better will Kill Zambia. You mean at the Time there was no Company or bank that would have injected the $25M? Why do we have all educated Zambians? Why can’t we run our own Mines with Corporate Social responsibility that would help the Government alleviate poverty? Thinking Indian company will do?? This is why all the Mine Hospitals went from the Best to Nothing? Let this be a wake-up call for Zambians. Other nationals Eating real money in your faces?? Let’s see what Sata will do.
like the way the govt of mwanawasa sold zanaco for a song and the ipo sold to zambians raised more money is the same way kcm was sold… rb did his best when selling zamtel
@Analysis, You make it seem like things are all hunky dory in the USA and things are so perfect. Corruption happens in the USA just like anywhere else. Ask yourself what the last executive order Clinton signed before he left power. The founder of Glencore (Owners of Mopani Copper Mine) have Bill Clinton in their pockets. We have watched the Why Poverty BBC documentary!
Zambia has many things that it needs to improve, but you must learn that we will have to improve and grow at our own pace. American systems are not a one size fits all. Not everything that works in the Western World can work everywhere else in the world. While America thought democracy can work in the Arab World, proof shows otherwise.
In short don’t rush to do things the way other people do it.
Lies Magande! I wonder how much he was paid to betray the people of Zambia, who voted the government he served in into power. Magande is are equally responsible for the sale of Konkola Mines. He signed the document! This ‘man’ choose to look away instead of expose the corruption of the Mwanwasa and Chiluba governments. His was rewarded for his lack of integrity. Now he lives a financially stable and in his time spews lies to the people of Zambia. What a sad human being. When you did you will leave a legacy of filth. The people shall say good riddance to bad rubbish and may God have mercy on your sole (he will need it).
Lies Magande! I wonder how much he was paid to betray the people of Zambia, who voted the government he served in into power. Magande is equally responsible for the sale of Konkola Mines. He signed the document! This ‘man’ choose to look away instead of expose the corruption of the Mwanwasa and Chiluba governments. His was rewarded for his lack of integrity. Now he lives a financially stable life and in his time spews lies to the people of Zambia. What a sad human being. When you die you will leave a legacy of filth. The people shall say good riddance to bad rubbish and may God have mercy on your sole (he will need it).
Agarwal start packing and take Dipak Patel with you! There is a generation of Zambians coming up that will not tolerate your kind of filth. You have been cautioned. A generation of Zambians has had enough of foreigners exploiting Zambians in their country. Broad daylight robbery from Indian business men(ie scam) must not continue. Start packing because there is a generation who unlike our forefathers will not be cheated, robbed, bribed or treated like *****. Start packing because our justice will be fair but we will be ruthless in our hunt to root you out of our society for good.
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Mangande is quoted as having said “the US$ 25 million is very low if you consider today’s price levels but nobody expected copper prices to hit these high levels”. Why did government then put the asking price at $400m if it knew that the market for copper was depressed? Really? The asking price of $400m must surely have been based on a valuation report. Ba Mangande you are a liar no different from Oscar Pistorius whom Gerrie Nel the prosecutor called a liar although he was warned by the judge not to call the accused a liar. And so I will say you are lying or you are not telling the truth.
Not reporting income from foreign sources may be a crime. The IRS and its international partners are pursuing those who hide income or assets offshore to evade taxes. Specially trained IRS examiners focus on aggressive international tax planning, including the abusive use of entities and structures established in foreign jurisdictions. The goal is to ensure U.S. citizens and residents are accurately reporting their income and paying the correct tax. You will face serious consequences if the IRS finds you have unreported income or undisclosed foreign financial accounts. These consequences can include not only the additional taxes, but also substantial penalties, interest, fines and even imprisonment.
Corruption is deep rooted in Zambia politics. The most corrupt governments were the Mwanawasa and Chiluba governments. This was because the presidents and ministers were corrupt. If the president fights corruption, his cabinet will follow likewise. Mwanawasa should get an award for deceit. Unlike Chiluba his crimes were never exposed. Mwanawasa’s father was a seasoned criminal who was jailed. So Mwanawasa’s father taught him that, the best criminals(mafia) don’t get caught .Dipak Patel awarded hundreds of contracts to Indian’ buisness men’ instead of Zambians? Dipak accepted bribes from indian ‘buisness men’ with a stamp of approval from Mwanwasa.
The IRS encourages you to report promoters of off-shore tax avoidance schemes. Whistleblowers who provide allegations of fraud to the IRS may be eligible for a reward by filing Form 211. In addition to reporting your worldwide income, you must also report on your U.S. tax return whether you have any foreign bank or investment accounts. The Bank Secrecy Act requires you to file a Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), if: You have financial interest in, signature authority, or other authority over one or more accounts in a foreign country, and The aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.Irs dot gov
let Emmanuel kasonde’s wife and Maureen Mwanawasa defend their husbands, because we cant put the blame on Sata since Magande has excused himself.
It is a know fact that Mwanawasa’s wife has an offshore account. Investigations should start there to recovery the billions of kwacha siphoned by her husband and his cabinet.
These guys were and are useless. Mwanawasa also sold Zanaco for US$9million, what would you expect a $25Million would do. So you think the person buying it does not think that he will spend $1million per month. Come on guys. This mine was sold for a song.
I agree with you. Mwanawasa was bribed and sold Zambian assets to the lowest bidder. His commission for the sale is nice and secure in his wife’s offshore bank account.
This issue is not about looking for someone to blame, this issue is about making things right, whether it was Levy, Kasonde, Magande or whoever! It’s about making sure we get our fair share after Vedanta has exposed it’s profits now on video.
@Namona. Sense.
Mwanawasa was very corrupr
As you were typing I your boss entered the office
Understatement star. Hope he and Satan are enjoying their wealth. Mwanawasa’s uncle tried very hard to ensure his nephew did not become a criminal like his son. Alas he did not succeed. Why do even have stadiums named after a man who plundered Zambia wealth into the gutter to satisfy his fat belly?!
Understatement star. Hope he and Satan are enjoying their wealth. Mwanawasa’s became a criminal like his father, despite his uncles best efforts to raise a principled man.Alas he did not succeed. Why do even have stadiums named after a man who plundered Zambia wealth into the gutter to satisfy his fat belly?!
Seriously People. Yes in retrospect the mine was sold for obviously less than it was and is worth. But that is water under the bridge, Vednata saw value where Zambians did not. How come a Zambian company did not offer a better price or give a better combined offer? Its too late to winge and whine as is being done. Nationalizing the mine will only cause any sensible investor (including Zambian ones) to not invest in Zambia and simply take whatever savings they have out of the country. The Kwacha has already slid to K6.6 so unless you want to see it at K8 to the Dollar don’t be so emotional about the issue.
The Zambian people through the government tax all companies, and as such have benefitted from KCM. The question is whether KCM pays its proper taxes.
Thats the trouble you face when politicians start handling public property. They do not understand the value of the assets. Their number 1 preoccupation is survival at the polls and fooling people around. He was cabbage. Enough said. As for magande, he has no integrity to defend that. He has nothing to offer politics. Next time they want to embark on selling public property let the set up a team of professionals to go out and compare the values of asset in europe or even in our back yard SA. What is the meaning of kaponya. I rest my case
bwana its about tax evasion- they guy did not declare true and fair profits for tax purpose every year ma losses, if it happened in these serious countries the management charged with corporate governance will have been in trouble by now. i cant imagine on top of all those tax incentives given to the mines then he dribbles you chansoni Zambia twasebana
The government charges a mineral royalty on every ton of copper taken out of the ground and sold, on top of that it charges a corporate tax, a variable tax, as well as PAYE on the employees of every mine in the country- including KCM. At the end of the day the Zambian people do benefit from KCM regardless of whether it were owned by a Zambian firm or foreigners. The question is whether they are paying the right level of taxes, if not (and the evidence is that they are not)…then they should on the strength of ZRA’s ability to audit them- be forced to pay the correct amount of taxes. This hogwash about nationalizing the mine will take us backwards. If the mine is grabbed without paying for shares the way ZAMTEL was grabbed don’t expect any sensible person to invest here.
The government charges a mineral royalty on every ton of copper taken out of the ground and sold,
The lowest in Africa, and far too low to get meaningful returns from the Zambian people’s copper.
on top of that it charges a corporate tax, a variable tax,
Largely unenforcable, because they depend on the declaration of profits by the corporation
as well as PAYE on the employees of every mine in the country- including KCM.
PAYE is not a mining tax, it is a income tax on workers, in that it gets taken out of their salaries, the only people who are taxed heavily. Let alone that with privatisation came a drop in wages and working conditions. Remember that ALL the mines’ costs are bing paid for by Zambian copper.
” At the end of the day the Zambian people do benefit from KCM regardless of whether it were owned by a Zambian firm or foreigners. ”
That’s like saying that if you have a $100,000 house, but you are forced to sell it for $10,000, ‘you benefited from the sale’.
The game is up. Stop defending foreign corporations when they steal the Zambian resources.
Nationalizing the mine by grabbing it will only show that in Zambia due process is not followed and property rights are weak. Even when someone is wrong, due process must be followed. If it is not followed it suggests that the country does not have systems and the rule of law is weak. Even when someone is wrong, the right processes must be followed to prove in the courts of law that they are wrong and then within the limits of the law be granted adequate remedies to rectify the situation. Just grabbing stuff only shows us to be emotional weak-minded oafs. The joke would be on us once no one invests here again for fear of our collective idiocy.
Focus instead on the real issue, which is proving if these guys have engaged in tax fraud.
The only problem is that such processes are so long that by the time you are done,the thief will have vanished.I say grab it….
Was KCM sold for a song, was ZANACO sold for a song…thats all about context. Now obviously the value of KCM and ZANACO has risen, so duh it would appear to have been a bad deal for Zambia. But the question is what sensible investor would buy an asset they do not expect to rise in value? The better question is whether those companies were at the time sold at their fair value or not. If the government sold the mines at below their fair value, then it was a bad deal. If the government sold them at their fair value then the deal was fair and the investors simply had insight.
In any case even if the deals were bad, its too late to do anything about it. Our poor negotiation skills are not the fault of the investor. The issue is whether laws were broken or not!
And in this context, the two important entities you mentioned were sold for song! What more contextualising do you want?
You have missed the point by a mile. You have never heard the people who bought Zanaco for a song and it is likely it was bought for a song boasting about it. What has infuriated most Zambians is this ka Nsamya bragging about it instead of letting sleeping dogs lie.
Pipo,ukulanda kwalyanguka ukubomba kwalishupa.PAST IS OVER Let us focus on future.
Just make sure Vendata is paying the right tax to ZRA by auditing the reported income and revenues. There is nothing else you can do. The shares of KCM should be very high now. Just go and buy them and benefit from the good results.
” Just make sure Vendata is paying the right tax to ZRA by auditing the reported income and revenues. ”
Not if it is not enough. Why on earth should Anil Agarwal be allowed to drag 0.5 billion a year out of the economy?
” There is nothing else you can do. ”
Untrue.
” The shares of KCM should be very high now. Just go and buy them and benefit from the good results. ”
Nonsense. No one buys property they already own.
And you seem to have a lot of faith in the integrity of Anil Agarwal, when it comes to dividend payments to his own company.
He has been shown to be untrustworthy, and now you want us to buy shares in his company?????
Stop defending the mines.
Magande is not telling us the truth. How can you loose $1 million per day?
This is the problem of just waiting upon foreigners to do things for you. Ladies and Gentlemen in Zambia, I now challenge you, out of 14 million people, don’t you have men and women with right skills to run this mines? Please let us help our country grow. let Government learn from this. There will be no development in Zambia until and when our leaders learn to involve local Zambians in running greater areas of the economy like mines. You cant talk about diversifying, when you cant even run already working capital infrastructure. Even the kwacha is going down because the so called investors are holding us to ransom. HH has not made a comment so far on this issue because he goes to bed with the same guys stealing.
Iwe it’s possible. Mining is not like salaula on lumumba road where you make K1,000 a day.
@zizila! You must be the most dull ass on earh. All you are thinking about is skills and employment – that’s not the issue! This issue is about investmnts! The mines needed an investor to buy the necessary Machinery for deep (3 to 4 miles) underground mining – Anglo Americans did not want to do that and they pulled out!
I hope you now understand the gist of the problem, monkey!! Some of you are so dull that you always miss the big picture and I wonder why you think you are cleverer than Mwanawasa!!
Friends let us not put blame on our late leaders they may have made mistakes on these transactions due to pressure at that time after Anglo American pulled out. Now that there is this revelation its the current government P F to re examine this deal with the focus that Zambia is ours and we can not allow such open exploitation of our resourses. PF Renegotiate if KCM can not come to terms then we must party company and engage another investor period.
I believe at issue here is not necessarily the sale price but the fact that KCM has allegedly been declaring losses when their Chairman claims otherwise. That is the core of the matter. When the mines were being sold the country was not in any bargaining position to argue a good price.
Why not start one new mine own and run only by Zambians? There are so many mineral reserves in the country, there are so many zambian mining engineers,technoligists, technicians experiences mining labourers, and a lot of unused cheap labour. We have mining surveyers, civil engineers, mechanical engineer. We can assemble mining equipment like jack hammers, water pumps, assay machines, etc. All these are available. We can borrow limited amount but more so just use what we earn from other mines. Notably, this will not involve outside investors. Mine the ore then for a start concentrate it, smelt it and refine it using existing infrustracture in the country. Hahaha, is this utopia? But thats what the historical british, american, belgian and french people did when they colonised us. Original.
Spot on! that has been my thought too. The same eurobond’s we have been accquiring on the international capital markets can be invested into a new mine.
Whatever the circumstances that lead to the sale at the price – there was a reason and well thought through. The real issue is that copper prices improved and the buyer has confessed to be making more profits. The next logical issue is ‘is KCM declaring right profit and paying the right tax? Make them pay the right tax!
We were colonised, then became independent, our brains still colonised to the extent that today we still dependant of former colonizer, ever looking for financial help in form of loans and donations. Foreign investors just come to reinforce the colonialzed brains from forefathers and mothers to today. Always looking out there for some form of help which comes with string that keep us colonized in all we say and do. We have deserted being original, ww do not see what we have as capital and assets unless the colonizers tell us so. The new colonizers come with little money but we give them plenty of our resources in return, just like we sold hundreds of slaves in exchange for a mirror! When will this imbalance change if we do not change our own mind sets. If only we can be original.
All MMD officials took profit during the privatisation programme. The mines were sold for a song because the buyers and their backers paid backshish to government officails and all those involved in the programme. The so called pressure because the mines were losing US$1m per day was just a red herring created by the World Bank, the IMF and the Washington Consensus Governments. The gullible and corrupt Zambian government accepted the number that was not audited when the government owned and operated the mines! This is just a tip of what transpired at privatisation. State ssets, farms, houses, shops, cash in banks, etc, were looted and shared by officials. That is why MMD officials are the richest people in Zambia today.
This is a very good point you raise. I have noted how officers of our government departments allow themselves to be bribed with stuff that is a small fraction of what they are selling out on. For instance, you see a guy being bribed with a Prado that he will drive for at most 10 years (with Zambia’s roads, much less) while allowing corrupt transfer of land that will serve the fraudster 99 years. This is one thing that actually beats me right down into the ground.
The Government/ZRA will ask KCM to produce books to prove that it was making $500 per year profits as stated by Anil and they expect KCM to do that? In the end we shall be told Anil was just joking and it will be business as usual! This is the way these tycoons have been playing around African leaders. Read Tom Bower’s book “Tiny Rowland – A Rebel Tycoon” to find out more!
We need systems that work. Copy and paste USA, UK, GERMAN Revenue systems, they are far better to manage taxation issues. Ours seems porous at its grip. It has failed us in the mining industry but also in many areas. ZRA needs to do far much more than they do. ZRA seems designed to have blinkers in some areas, they can’t see whats at play for a long time. They like targeting citizens with personal effects and clamp and squeeze hard on them but letting go the giant investors free, a case of hunting for ants instead of elephants. Sometimes to busy dining and wining in hotels, attending this and that serminar and conference, busy like a bee but without the results needed for the nation. You need work extra hard to seal loop holes that these investors are using to rob the country start…
No need to defend wrong decisions, Magande. A big mistake was made by the Mwanawasa administration. Now the country has become a laughing stock for incompetence.
If people including the late LPM took time to read the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s Arusha Declaration, they would find a lot of answers to questions on resource nationalism.
Our own Matero and Mulungushi Reforms were offshoots of the AD and we would not have been forced to re-live the costly experience we are going through …
There’s nothing to ‘check’ or ‘verify’, Agarwal has done the verication for them. All they have to do is to present him with an invoice for the outstanding taxes. You will find nothing in their books if you really must check those records physically. Lets try not to be stup!d and docile all over again and loose out on this cash bonanza. He has confirmed publicly he makes US$500 per year out of our copper and you still want to check and verify!? He even confessed he was shocked that he was given VIP treating for stealing our resources! when he is the lowest of all scoundrels and scum of the earth. All right, lets swallow the insult, but lets grab what’s owed us fast.
Sorry, I meant VIP treatment and not VIP ‘treating’.
As part of electioneering, PF and Sata are going to grab KCM next year…. Watch the space.
Zambia is a country where foreigners takes our Minerals,make millions of Dollars and leave us with only useless shafts
Of course those who have no brains will blame Mwanawasa . At the time KCM was sold, that mine was gasping for breath. The copper markets were dead!
Once the copper markets were doing fine, Mwanawasa introduced the Windfall Tax, and the country was benefitting fairly from copper revenue.
PF should not use Mwanawasa as an excuse, Sata and his group have simple be caught pants down on the KCM issue, they have no muscle to stand and challenge KCM—– probably because of the deals they benefit form KCM. Under PF Zambia is doomed!!!
You are wrong. Agarwal said he was willing to pay up to 400 million or more for that mine. He was also astute to recognise a man with no integrity (Mwanawasa) can easily be bribed. So he offered 25 million and Mwanwasa got a nice commission( by Zambian standards).
It was the correct thing to do at the time. Otherwise GRZ was losing money, period!!!! Many jobs were saved and the great Levy did a very good thing for the nation. The problem with Zedians, You forget too easily!!!! Short memories and you pretend to be knowledgeable, experts and professials in understanding basic economics!!!!!
Spot on. At the rate things were going, govt would have spent about $365m in one year just on KCM. That would have created a big hole in government finances. I think levy was looking at a bigger picture of not exposing the whole economy to shocks coming from a company called KCM. Infact, despite the sudden pull out by Anglo American, I think Levy did his best to stabilize the economy. Had that sudden pull out happened under PF, many of you criticizing Levy would have been crying by now.
These government officials keep repeating that no one ever thought the price of copper would rise. Did the people in government not stop to to think what on earth is the copper being used for. It was 2004 by then the boom in the production of electronics was well underway already. Surely there must have been an analyst that said ‘look the world needs this copper, this mine is worth more than $25 million’. The problem with the governments we’ve had is the fact that leaders don’t seem to listen to the people that put them there in the first place.
” These government officials keep repeating that no one ever thought the price of copper would rise. Did the people in government not stop to to think what on earth is the copper being used for. ”
They should have at least tried to hedge against a future rise in the price of copper. They could have included a 100% tax for every cent that copper rose above $2,00 – if the IMF ‘advisers’ were no lying and selling the government a tall tale about their ability to predict copper prices decades out. Because they told Edith Nawakwi that ‘copper prices wouldn’t rise in her lifetime’.
The thieves’ new talking point is ‘water under the bridge’ and ‘it was the right thing to do at the time’. Total hogwash, but they get paid to say these things.
from the way i see it kcm wants to scrum and coz they dont want to lose a penny they are doing things on pretext…just like a woman who gets pregnant by a secret lover and later provokes a situation so that a husband can chase her without her accounting for her mistake…we have to be careful! just remember they wanted to prun 1500 saying cost of mining but some people said ore body has finished!
…Magande has to be honest. Gilbert Temba’s Citizen forum was still in a ‘battle’ with Mwanawasa govt as late as July 2004 over the impending sale of KCM to Vedanta. The actual seal of the deal was concluded in October/November 2004. So if he claims to have joined the govt in June 2004…he was very much part of the transaction.
@Scrutinizerer, it is an inconvenient truth that Magande was not yet Finance Minister, ist it? Makes the blame-game politics harder, I guess.
If kasonde was part of that ‘deal’, most likely his family could have not have been evicted from the house for failure to liquidate the loan Kasonde had gotten……if u know what I mean
It is typical of human nature to blame the dead. They cannot answer back. This is why people kill witnesses. By blaming Kasonde who is dead it means that had Mangande been the one who was Finance Minister at the time he would not have allowed the deal
Zanaco- $9m
KZM-$25m
ZAMTEL-????
And Pastor Mumbwe tells us MMD were better economic managers!!!!
The issue is not whether the mine was sold at good price or not. I think the issue here is that the govt should get the right tax from KCM. Infact, if the govt had put it’s house in order, they would have been collecting enough revenue to help fund developmental programmes. They should not make the mistake of nationalizing the mine. They have no capacity to run the mine and it will send wrong signals in the economy. Zamtel is good example of negative effects of nationalization. Zamtel is now showing signs of financial crisis which will be evident in the near future. The sad thing is that there is no serious investor who would want to risk his money in Zamtel. Govt will be forced to use tax payers money to recapitalize it. Please can govt use taxation to get the money from KCM
Its time for Windfall tax as HH has been saying all along. Period.
Some very silly translation of the speech by Anil Agarwal has kicked up these silly issues.
Agarwal never said he bought the mine for $25 Million. He said he had offered $25 Million as a first payment and the rest $375 million in instalments, which he paid. I have listened to the video and was amazed at to what extent someone can twist a speech.
Agarwal never mocked the President and any Zambian because of the Grand reception that they were accorded. But he was full of surprise that how come a businessman was being accorded such a grand reception with red carpet.
I am sure this is some other interested parties from China or South Africa, who always eyed KCM, but never could take it. Get a translation done by the Indian Embassy in Lusaka. Role of Action Aid is suspicious in this.
@Banerji whatever u call yourself…..
Are you a nephew to Agarwal…?? please don’t add salt to the would. Your uncle has already done enough damage.
We don’t need the Embassy to translate, we have Hindu friends who did word for word. Infact, after watching the video, my Hindu friend even teased me. He said..’if I was a Zambian, I would go and throw myself into the lake’
Yes, the agreement may have been that he pays $25m and inject $375m into KCM operations which was utter nonsense. The fact is that, at the time your uncle was fraudulently ‘buying’ KCM, there was heaps and heaps of copper and cobalt concentrates which he sold and used part of that money to hoodwink us into believing that he was re-investing using the $375m as promised…give us a break man
@Nilu Banerji: I think you are being unnecessarily defensive here – and in futility for that matter! That translation was not done by Action Aid or jelous competitors of Argawal BUT by Indians Indians from India who are spearheading a campaign called “STOP VEDANTA” – so the translation can’t be wrong! They have a huge record of terrible practices by Argawal world wide including India itself.
Remeber we have black Zambians who have studied AND lived in India and can speak Indian langiages. You can argue that the translation is wrong! In fact there is free software that can translate into more than 100 world language. NICE TRY!
Nilu start packing and take Dipak Patel with you! There is a generation of Zambians coming up that will not tolerate your kind of filth. You have been cautioned. A generation of Zambians has had enough of foreigners exploiting Zambians in their country. Broad daylight robbery from Indian business men(ie scam) must not continue. Start packing because there is a generation who unlike our forefathers will not be cheated, robbed, bribed or treated like fools. Start packing because our justice will be fair but we will be ruthless in our hunt to root you out of our society for good.
” He said President Mwanawasa was faced with a difficult situation after Anglo American pulled out of KCM. ”
By the way, Anglo-American Corporation was founded by Rothschild Bank agent JP Morgan, and Rothschild family aligned family member sir Ernest Oppenheimer.
There is/was a cross-share holding between Anglo-American Corporation and De Beers, hence the company is known as Anglo-American De Beers.
The mining industry at this level is all very incestuous. And therefore, it is clear who benefits – who ultimately received the dividends, or most of it.
Fellow country men. We should not be ashammed of what happened then, we have to deal with the current tide, i.e Chinese land crabbing, Eurobond, Useless ministers, Facebook address, arrest of the opposition, lack of opposition parties. bumper haverst, road construction tenders and shoddy work, the list is endless. What we need is a reflection of all the issues I have outlined. We have a leadership crisis in Zambia, our leaders in government and opposition are not inspiring, let us turn to GOD and pray. We must start fasting now and ask GOD to give us direction.
Pointin fingers ka.We zambians are good @ that.Mwa posha umugodi,its simple iseni tuba jande fye.Honestly it was a mockery to we zambians,how many people in zed go to bed on an empty stomach.I really feel for my country mwandi.
maybe thats why levy brought windfall tax.
Can anybody explain to me how government can get windfall tax from a company that is claiming it is making a loss and was about to sack 2000 workers last year for it, it alleged, to be viable. Whether you like him or not the President stood his ground and saved the workers’ jobs. I put it to you that some presidents would have been bribed. Windfall tax means you pay more when you make more money and pay less or not at all if you claim you are not making any money. So whether it is windfall tax or the present tax regime government is losing money because it is dealing with a company that is not honest in its financial dealings (fraudulent accounting).
Zambians are just lazy. playing the blame game. in 1990’s you blamed Kaunda, in 2000’s you blamed chiluba, now its mwanawasa and rb. cowards, why cant you talk when people are in power and are alive. poverty mindset at its peak.
Do not take Zambian s to be fools, Magade, those pressures you are talking about where there even during the time of Chiluba. Can you call this man Anil Agarwal who even made self-confession that he did not even have US$ 4 million in his pocket to bid for a KCM asking price of US$400 to be someone with strong financial muscle to run the mine? We know what you did, KCM at that time had started making profits, you quickly transferred KCM profits potential to this chap for him to use KCM assets to borrow. We know that this same it was played at the same Lemba Lemba, Kasonde, Mwanawasa played at Ministry of Energy. That is why Mwanawasa promoted Kaunda Lemba Lemba to Ministry of Mines so that they could play the same games there as well.
We want the technical advisers to Mwanawasa government who justified this bogus sale to come out. This is no time for cheap politics. If it was Chiluba who did such a thing he could have been killed by Mwanawasa. Rubbish Come out Sata bring out all the information that you are hiding protecting Your Tribes man Kosonde, Mwanawasa, Magade and Malawan Kaunda Lemba Lemba Treason charges gentlemen are on the way on all of you.
Both Mwanawasa and Kasonde are no longer alive. The person who should fully explain this issue is Rajan Mahtani since he is the one who introduced Vedanta to LPM and also brokered the deal. Mahtani will or should be made to come clean on this issue. How could he introduce such a character to a sensitive national asset? Where do Mahtani’s loyalties lie? Has he got loyalties to Zambia or India?
@44-What do we achieve by bringing in a person who brought two willing parties together.In national interest he might have introduced a willing buyer to a willing seller.It is then up to two parties to conclude a deal with due diligence.Stop the blame game.Secondly,Mr Magande is very right when he talks about $1M loss a day and threat to economy.Zambians who were at the helm of KCM affairs are still alive.They are accountants and know better than anybody else.If Agarwal turned it around and copper prices went through the roof,it is Zambian government that should have learnt and introduced appropriate tax regime than flogging the dead horse.Whether Indian,Chinese,Boer,Muzungu or Muntu,all are in business to make money and they will all do the same, reap profits.
If someone introduces a known cassonova player to your fourteen year old daughter you will not excuse that person when the cassonova takes advantage of your daughter. You will not say what is wrong with bringing together a seducer with seducee. Mahtani, if a true Zambian, should not have been thinking of his commission but at Mother Zambia. Clearly you and Mahtani have no feeling for the millions of Zambians living in poverty because some greedy people saw it fit to introduce a willing seller to a willing buyer irrespective of the cost to the nation
Honestly President Sata should show leadership by following up on real economic issues. Certainly this issue is more important to ignore. This is more important than the Zesco / GBM tender which, actually GBM did not even win. On the KCM, we want to know if their was a Tender, who were the bidders, what was the evaluation criteria, the reserve price, who was on a tender committee and the other usual questions that go along with such issues. I hope the silence from State House does not means that KCM was sold like Salaula. If fact not even Salaula, because for salaula there are market forces at Soweto. So the question is what market forces were at play and how was corruption, conflict of interests etc avoided. That is what we want to know before we can even go to the issues of taxes.
The point is this, President Sata should issue a directive to revert this mine among other mines where similar underhand methods were used to rob Zambians. This is easy to do, he did in the case of Finance Bank. We are all watching PF
As much as we need to rectify this situation ASAP. We would like to know all those chaps who received kickbacks when this ideal was being done. Including those who continued to benefit by turning a blind eye years after this atrocity had been committed. Dead or alive! A couple of names, including Magande and Nawakwi, come to mind. Jail these thieves retrospectively please!
You have left out the”matchmaker” Rajan Mahtani who profited after bringing Vendata to Mwanawasa.
This debate of who signed wht should end. The sale of KCM should bé made public we see what was transacted. I bet that not evenn a dollar was spent as the person has stated tht this man Agrawal confeSsed that he didnt even haave 4million dollars..ali incushi uyu (a very poor man) so many things were not rright and are still not right..let Us also see findings of technical report we know what was found!! We want data, abash silence, abash fraud!!
The ambassador to Indian needs to be summoned to State House immediately. All Indian bushiness men (ie thieves) must be deported back to Indian. Start recruiting german engineers and miners to work and train staff at Zambian mines.
Agarwal start packing and take Dipak Patel with you! There is a generation of Zambians coming up that will not tolerate your kind of filth. You have been cautioned. A generation of Zambians has had enough of foreigners exploiting Zambians in their country. Broad daylight robbery from Indian business men(ie scam) must not continue. Start packing because there is a generation who unlike our forefathers will not be cheated, robbed, bribed or treated like *****. Start packing because our justice will be fair but we will be ruthless in our hunt to root you out of our society for good.
It is not DIPAK who should pack but Rajan Mahtani who brought Agaral and Vendata. Can you imagine selling your country like that?
Despite the great leader Mwanawasa selling the mine for a song. He introduced windfall tax….so that he can milk the firms but wat ve we done now….we ve thrown it away n today we are crying. instead of working around the table to change the situation.
Mwanawasa was a corrupt thug. He sold Zambian assets to the lowest bidder and was bribed with a commission. He was not a great leader. Scam breeds scam. Like his father Mwanwasa was nothing but a criminal. He was know for buying examination papers at cheating on his exams at UNZA. Despicable man!
From the comments Zambians are giving only two conclusion can be made;
ignorance and deep poverty.
Lack of understanding of the basic principles of economics and mine managements.
Just yaping with emotions.
Thumb to Mwanawasa and his crew
@Mao thumbs up to them for giving away KCM. For nothing? Demand for the technical report thaat was done by Dr Sixtus and team…they need to share thier findings its a sad story…Vedanta is reaping where it did not sow.
Surprised to see a few vicious attack on my comment. I thought that the modern Zambia understands how business is done. If we are expecting that donations of profit will be done by an investor, then we are living in pre-historic era. The world has moved forward. Either we do it ourselves, or we get it done. When we get it done (by the investors), then we will have to pay the price. Agarwal did not force himself on us. He submitted the tender and he was selected by us to run KCM.
This need and crave for foreign funds in Zambia and not liking the idea of investors taking away the profit is a child like thought. Investors do not donalt. They will use their money to make more money. Let us understand this once and for all.
Nigul the rebuttal to your ridiculous comment was not vicious at all. Think before you type. A patriotic Zambian in their right might cannot make comments like yours that amount to nonsense. Indian business men should not allowed to invest in Zambia. All those Indians running businesses should be deported (NON NEGOTIABLE). Every Zambian knows the Indian business men in Zambia are: toxic. corrosive, bribers, black mailers, devious,launders and corrupt. They do not share Zambia values and ethics therefore Zambia should not do business with them. Take your trash that you, your father and grand-father have stolen from Zambia and do not return to Zambia.
I agree with you Freddie. Indian business men are only in Zambia to exploit the people of Zambia. Ever Zambian knows they are petty thieves. A Zambian in his/he right man would not to business with an Indian investor unless a substantial bribe has been offered. Mwanawasa was a corrupt ‘ president’ and this proved to be an advantage for low calibre investors to win bid/sales in Zambia. Zambia needs to attract investors with integrity. Zambia should seek high calibre investors from e.g Germany , Sweden etc instead of rif-raff like Argawal. The Chinese can take over the Konkola until Zambians are full trained with expertise to rum the mine.
magande is a liar,why do you enjoy defending wrong things?The answer is simple you were also in the deal nowander mrs mwanawasa wanted you to be the president. Shame on you
The Indian business men you find in Zambia are corrupt. Elsewhere in the world you may find an Indian investor with integrity but not in Zambia or Africa at large. Only the lowest calibre of investors are found in Zambia. Standard of economic investment need to improve in Zambia. Look at what happened with banks(indo zam, finance,etc) that had Indian business men at the helm. Many brilliant Zambians who built strong business were financially ruined because of those so called Indian business investors. Meanwhile the culprits responsible for liquidated banks, escaped to India with millions of dollars stolen from honest Zambian business men.Integrity and corruption do not mix. It is a fact Argwal using child labour for business in India.These investors need to expunged.