Ministry of Foreign Affairs tender committee wasn’t involved in procurement of property in Turkey
AN internal auditor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooporation has told the Economic and Financial Crimes Court that procedure was not followed in the procurement of a chancery and 11 apartments for the Zambian mission in Ankara, Turkey.
Saphira Muluti, a principal internal auditor, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tender committee was not engaged to procure property which would gobble massive sums, beyond the Ministry’s financial limit.
Muluti told magistrate Irene Wishimanga that in August 2021l, permanent secretary – administration Ronald Simwinga instructed her to scrutinise transactions on the account of the Zambian mission in Ankara, Turkey for any suspicious transactions.
She said upon examining the account, she established that huge sums of money were deposited in the Mission’s account to which she travelled to Turkey to conduct a physical audit and inquire about the reasons of the transactions.
“We told management we were doing routine audit of the Mission to avoid alarming the situation but the acting head of mission was informed. We found about US$7.5 million in total which was transferred. We requested for documents supporting such transactions but they said they were not given documents,” Muluti said.
She said the head of Mission produced payment vouchers and it was discovered that a chancery was purchased, to which she requested for documentation but they were not availed as procedure was not followed.
“The Mission, being under Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the controlling officer was supposed to write to the ministerial tender committee requesting it to procure the property, because it was beyond their threshold of K150, 000 and own their own. They couldn’t procure such a an expensive property,” Muluti said.
“The permanent secretary was not informed by the head of Mission about the money the Mission received for the purchase of 12 properties. The Mission did not follow laid down procedure in the purchase of the chancery and a block of 11 flats on behalf of government. They were supposed to request the ministerial tender committee at Foreign Affairs to handle the procurement.”
The witness told the court that the funds were sent directly to the Mission from the Ministry of Finance, which shows that there was no proof that the funds were approved by Parliament as supplementary funding because the purchase of property was not catered for in the 2021 budget.
For director investments and debt management at the Ministry of Finance Gregory Kabwe, he said there was pressure from Joseph Malanji (then Minister of Foreign Affairs) for the approval of payment to purchase property in Turkey.
He said Malanji advised that government obtains a credit facility but that the terms were not favourable to the government, as it was a commercial loan, which is expensive compared to a concessional loan.
Kabwe told the court that based on the series of phone calls he received from Malanji, he sought guidance from former secretary to the treasury Fredson Yamba who advised him not to proceed with the loan and advised him to comply with the directives of Cabinet, relating to the contraction of loans.
He said Yamba told him that the matter was sensitive as Malanji was not supposed to call him personally over such matters.
In this matter, Yamba is facing two counts of wilful failure to comply with the law and procedure, relating to the management of public property.
He is jointly charged with Malanji, who is facing eight counts of possessing property suspected to be proceeds of crime.
It is alleged that between January 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021, Yamba did not comply with sections 5,7,11(1),20,22,30 and 78 of the finance management Act No.1 of 2018 and Sections 4 and 41 of the public procurement Act No.12 of 2008 when he authorised the transfer of K154, 201, 197 to the Zambian Mission account in Turkey for the purchase of a chancery and 11 apartments.
Malanji is, between January 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021, alleged to have possessed two Jet Ranger helicopters BELL 206 and BELL 430, Royal Gibson Hotel, US$2115, 000, and three houses in Silverest gardens in Lusaka, suspected to be proceeds of crime.
The matter comes up on March 6 this year for Muluti’s cross-examination.
By Mwaka Ndawa
Kalemba