YOU SAID JOSEPH MALANJI IS A RICH MAN, NOW READ THIS AND TELL ME WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE – TAYALI
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FORMER Foreign Affairs minister Joe Malanji is under investigation for allegedly flying to Turkey with the Presidential challenger jet to collect money believed to have been sent to the Zambian Mission for purchasing an embassy building in that country, sources have told News Diggers.
On Tuesday, the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), in collaboration with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) jointly charged and arrested Malanji and former Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba for failure to comply with the law whilst they served in their positions.
Malanji and Yamba are alleged to have directly or indirectly influenced the transfer of K154,201,197 to the Zambian mission in Turkey without following the law on Supplementary Expenditure as provided by Article 203 of the Zambian Constitution Act No. 2 of 2016.
According to impeccable sources, the cost for the embassy building was inflated several times, but the government, through Yamba, went ahead to transfer over K154 million for its purchase.
The sources revealed that the Ministry of Finance, with a push from State House initially attempted to acquire a loan to purchase the said property in Ankara, but the deal fell through after Zambia struggled to meet the security guarantee set by the Turkish bank.
“The deal started as far back as February or March in 2020. After the loan failed to go through, there was a push from State House to quickly make this payment. That’s when there was that disagreement now at Foreign Affairs between the minister and the PS. After PS declined to see the payment through, that’s when the Secretary to the Treasury was brought on board to quicken the payment,” narrated the source.
The source said when the payment was transferred to the Zambian Mission, the justification was that it was for staff emoluments, but a decision was made to change the usage and spend it on procurement of property.
“That is how the money was now spent on the property, but a report was received from Turkey that part of the money found its way back into Zambia. The property cost less than US$2 million. The minister made trips to Turkey using the Presidential Challenger with authorisation from State House, and that’s the period that he came back with millions of dollars. After that, is when he bought the helicopter,” said the source.
News Diggers was able to independently verify that indeed, the presidential challenger flew to Turkey on several dates including December 28, 2020 and 1st March 2021.