MALANJI’S MILLIONS: COURT HEARS, INCOME DOES NOT MATCH LAVISH TRANSACTIONS
A string of revelations in the Lusaka Magistrates Court has cast fresh scrutiny on the financial dealings of former Foreign Affairs Minister JOE MALANJI, with testimony indicating that his official earnings between 2018 and 2021 fall far short of the extravagant transactions under investigation.
According to Ministry of Finance Senior Accountant MWILA MOONGA, Mr. Malanji earned a cumulative K2.367 million in salary and allowances during his tenure as Foreign Affairs Minister an amount nowhere near the over $10 million reportedly used to settle a loan and another $2 million paid for helicopter imports, both considered proceeds of crime by the State.
During cross-examination, Mr. Moonga laid out the income trail, corroborated by Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director of Finance OBRIEN KATIE, who added that Mr. Malanji earned K678,926 between September 2019 and May 2021 alone.
In a separate testimony, Workers’ Compensation Fund Control Board Director of Legal Services FUNNY NYIRENDA told the court that in 2011, Mr. Malanji’s company, Gibson and Gibson Limited, paid K2 billion (unrebased) for Property No. 1326 in Kitwe’s Buchi area, a figure that again raised questions over the origins of such funds.
Mr. Malanji is jointly charged with former Secretary to the Treasury FREDSON YAMBA, who is accused of willfully flouting the law by authorizing the transfer of over K108 million to the Zambia Mission in Turkey for a controversial real estate purchase.
As the case unfolds, it paints a telling contrast between public service earnings and unexplained financial dealings, reminding citizens why transparency and accountability must never be optional, and why Zambia’s renewed anti-corruption momentum under the current administration is striking a nerve with those accustomed to impunity.
The legal proceedings not only underscore the depth of fiscal irregularities from the past but also serve as a warning that the days of unquestioned privilege and unchecked plunder are over.
How did Joe Malanji pay for the property he bought from Workers Compensation Fund? Was it a bank-to-bank transfer? Did he pay through his lawyer’s firm? The prosecution needs to establish this.
Mr. Malanji, we all know that you were one of Lungu’s right-hand man and the chief porter of looted money. That we know. You did the task diligently and rewarded handsomely, but now it is time to account. Dude you are on your own.