COME AND GET ME … Kambwili dares ACC  

Tue, 15 Nov 2016 07:58:33 +0000

I AM ready to face the Anti-Corruption Commission over allegations of corruption and I am certain the truth will set me free, Chishimba Kambwili has stated.

Mr Kambwili said while he was not ready to make comments on the announcement by the ACC that it had started investigating him over alleged corrupt practices, the former Information and Broadcasting Services Minister declared he had been waiting for the day he would face the ACC officers.

Mr Kambwili challenged the Commission and other investigating agencies to go anywhere in the world including Botswana where it is alleged that he established a company, Mwamona Investment, through which it is believed he had amassed his riches.

“Let them come…even tomorrow, they are free to come but only the truth will set me free. The only word I have for them is that umulume wambwa tafwa kukulu. So tell them I welcome the investigations and the ACC are more than welcome. They are free to go to hell or heaven in their investigations,” Mr Kambwili said.

Meanwhile, it has been reported in Gaborone, Botswana, that Mr Kambwili is being investigated on how he accumulated personal wealth that includes several plush villas and over 500 flats after serving the government for just five years.

According to Africa News Agency and IOL News, unnamed sources from State House told the Lusaka Times that Mr Kambwili was also being investigated for alleged irregularities in the awarding of several government and private sector contracts to his company, Mwamona Investments.

The ACC yesterday announced that it had opened investigations against Mr Kambwili for alleged corruption.

ACC public relations manager Timothy Moono said confirmed that there was an inquiry against Mr Kambwili on allegations of corrupt practices.

“Following recent media queries on whether the Anti-Corruption Commission is conducting investigations on alleged corrupt practices against honorable Chishimba Kambwili, former Information and Broadcasting Minister, I wish to inform you that there has been an inquiry against honorable Kambwili on allegations of corrupt practices,” Mr Moono said.

He said that he would not comment further on the matter as it may jeopardize the investigations on the matter.

“These investigations are ongoing and the Commission would therefore not wish to comment further as this may jeopardize the investigations,” he said.

According to foreign media outlets, Kambwili is a director of Mwamona Investments, which is registered in Lusaka as a diversified holding with interests in real estate, property development, civil engineering, haulage transport services, and milling.

The ACC investigation is expected to focus on how the ex-minister is funding the construction of executive blocks of flats in the cities of Ndola, Luanshya, and Lusaka.

It would also examine how Kambwili accumulated a pool of 28 personal vehicles in five years, up from the three he had when he joined parliament in 2008, as well as reports that he now owns multiple properties in London, where his family lives.

In terms of alleged construction fraud, Mwamona Investments would be probed for abandoning government projects which included the construction of a market place in the town of Mwense in Luapula Province.

Other projects including schools, clinics, and roads in Luapula were allegedly paid for in full but abandoned as incomplete. In the process, government was allegedly defrauded of up to $30 million.