FORMER foreign affairs minister Joe Malanji bought seven houses in Silverest Gardens and Chongwe, a day after returning from Turkey in 2020, the Economic and Financial Crimes Court has heard.
The seven houses cost a whopping $50,000 and Malanji paid cash, according the testimony of Kwaleyela Mukelabai, a Senior Assistant commissioner under the anti-money laundering unit at the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC).
Testifying before principal resident magistrate Irene Wishimanga, Mukelabai said he got information from the National Assembly regarding Malanji’s earnings from the period he became a minister in 2016 and 2021 among them : salaries, allowances, and gratuities which were cumulative of K5.1 million.
“When the documents were provided to me analysis of those documents showed that he received allowances K749, 000, salaries K1, 400, 000 and gratuities K1.4 million and for 2019 to 2021 gratuity was K531, 000 coming to K2 million for the gratuity,” Mukelabai said.
“The total income was over K5.1 million that’s what he legally earned from 2016 to 2021.”
Mukelebai said he visited Silverest gardens in the company of Lubinda Chirwa from the ACC to establish whether the intel that Malanji had seven houses in Silverest gardens, was correct.
“After checking the system with Francis Chipeta, we were able to establish that indeed there were houses owned by Mr Malanji. Documents revealed that a $50,000 cash was paid to Silverest gardens by Mr Malanji on December 31, 2020,” Mukelabai said.
“I was interested on the date because, it was connected to the deposits made by Malanji at Stanbic upon his return from Turkey. I concentrated on three houses: no.033, no.269 and house no. 270. The system showed the statement of account for each house which showed the date payments were done towards the purchase.”
He said According to Francis Chipeta payments were being made in staggered arrangements. The $50,000 was broken down in $18,000, $16,000 and $14,000. And the receipts were issued in Malanji’s name.
“After the holistic investigation I decided to call Mr Malanji for an interview for purpose of clarification. The Commission in the initial stages as I said, there were two reports when the first report was made around March he was invited to explain about the purchase of the first helicopter,”Mukelabai said.
“Mr Malanji said the source for the acquisition of the helicopter had come from the contracts he had in Congo and that he had a contract with China Civil engineering construction corporation in Lubumbashi DRC.”
He said Malanji provided documents: a sub contract, some withdraw slips showing that Mass investment Limited had paid Gibson Power Systems: He also provided some receipts which were showing that he received cash from the DRC, documents showing that there were interim payments certificates, a letter written by himself to Stanbic Bank which was showing that it was from Cosmopolitan Branch.
Mukelabai Malanji showed him some documents from Row Bank, showing Mass investment had made a transaction to pay Gibson Power systems.
He said he allowed Malanji to leave and engaged the Financial Intelligence Centre
and requested it to verify the authenticity of the documents by verify with the FIC in the neighboring DRC.
“The FIC in Congo wrote to our FIC in Zambia explaining that those purported withdraw slips were not authentic. The account number showing on the documents was not the correct number at Row Bank in DRC,” Mukelabai said.
“Since I was informed that the documents were not authentic I decided to head to DRC for my investigations in 2021. I went informally (on a secret mission) to conduct investigations before I could formally write to authorities to help with information.”
He said he decided to verify whether; China Civil. Engineering Construction Company exists, addresses which were provided on the two contracts between China Civil Engineering Corporation and Gibson Power System, Transactions between Mass investment and Gibson power Systems and whether the addresses were correct.
“The addresses given for China Civil Engineering and Gibson Power Systems was 1902 Nyeta road and Mass investment was plot no.2 Mayenge avenue. We went to the consulate with my colleague and with the help of the staff, I proceeded to go and check on those addresses. I discovered that Nyeta street had plot numbers going up to 47 so plot no. 1902 did not exist in that street,” Mukelabai said.
“From there, I proceeded to avenue Mayenye at plot no. 2. When I reached there, a woman came out of the gate and I requested to speak to the CEO of Mass investment. The woman mentioned that she was a catholic nun and that is where the Catholic nuns were residing. To prove this, I asked her to call other nuns. They confirmed that there was never Mass investment. The older ones said they had Lived there since they were young.”
He said he returned to Zambia and drafted a mutual legal assistance to the DRC government, and he was allowed to go and officially do investigate in the DRC.
“While in DRC my case was given to the prosecutor general who was equivalent to the DPP of this country who upon visiting him told us that the case had been located to an investigating magistrate Charles Lwanga Kabozya.”Mukelabai said.
He said Kabozya had informed him that, according to the investigation he carried out, he established that China Civil Engineering never dealt with Gibson Power Systems.
According to Kabozya, Row bank responded to his inquiry and stated that the seven withdraw slips, bank statements for payment from Mass Investment, were not authentic.
“Mr Charles Kabozya said Row bank provided statements for Mass investments and when I looked at the statements, I was able to see that the Bank statements which Mr Malanji provided to us was from 2017 yet the account for Mass Investment was opened in 2020,” Mukelabai said.
“China Civil Engineering said the contract it was working on at the time, was too small to subcontract Gibson Power Systems. I came back after establishing that the documents Mr Malanji had given us were all not authentic.”
He added that he also established that Malanji had written to Stanbic on October 15, 2020 asking Stanbic Bank to inform the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) that, at some point in future he would be depositing US$100, 000 in cash which would come from the contract which Gibson Power Systems had from Congo.
“To this letter he (Malanji) had attached the contract between China Civil Engineering Company and Gibson Power Systems. Francis Chilufya confirmed that indeed the Bank had received the letter from Malanji and it was received from the Cosmopolitan branch,”said Mukelabai.
By Mwaka Ndawa
Kalemba News
Was it $50,000 for seven houses or for each of them? For seven in all it doesn’t seem to add up for an area such as Silverest.
This was the money that was supposed to be used to purchase the new Zambian mission premises in Ankara, Turkey. This illegal alien Angolan thief went there on the presidential Jet authorised by the Mozambican Jameson Mataware Lungu to collect the money and bring it back after it was remitted to the Zambian mission, he gave most of it to Lungu who gave Esther money to buy those 45 houses with a ghost owner in Lilayi or somewhere there. He must rot in jail this stinking thief.
@Njangwamuloty… A real smocking gun this. A lot cases arise from this and Mr. bonanza is i “maningi” trouble. It also points to the use of the Presidential jet and who gave authority for Malanji to use it. Your guess is as good as mine. More popcorn please!
Gosh! I am not gawking at the $50,000 — that should be normal if earned normally. The shock is the revelation of blatant forgery in this case. Amazing that the people we entrust with our votes go on to do such things… and this is still going on as we speak unfortunately.
We cant trust anyone in present day Zambia. They are all in it for what they can steal. There’s not a single politician who has joined so as to help the people. They are all politicians to help themselves. The objective is to make sure they run from poverty. People arent even afraid that God will punish them. Their focus is only on how comfortable they can be. Yet we are only on planet earth for some 80 years. The vanity of man.
@Eagle’s Eye, not popcorn please! Let us see for once that justice is served! Hey Zambians, this is your money being stolen! You cannot eat popcorn while you being robbed so brazenly!
@Awe sure.. Gotta love that!
Ive known Malanji for over 20 years. There’s nothing he does which is straight. He has always been a crook, thief, con-man and a cold hearted womaniser. Don’t bungle this ine up. He needs to be locked up. He is paying for all the years he has stolen and made people’s lives miserable.
Of course he wasn’t alone in this theft. This had all the blessings of the commander in thief at that time who facilitated everything and one of those black bags went to him straight.
Wooow
Ubomba mwibala,…….
I always say we should find a way of getting rid of all Politicians….how come Politicians become rich in a poor country….they’re all criminals and useless Bandits
The problem we have is corruption…now the Judges and ACC are busy cutting deals with Malanji….this man will never spend a single day in jail…ask Musa Mwenya what he witnessed
Malanji don’t worry you won’t be alone in prison. After 2026 you will be joined by other big fishes. That’s why it’s important to build habitable prisons. Prisons are not hospitals where the monied people choose which one to attend.
And he probably bought a helicopter for 100 million for his Ministry and sold it to himself for US$ 50 000…now i know why Politicians are rich
Something is not adding up. One cannot buy 7 houses in silverest for USD50K. Maybe one small house yes. Or do they mean he paid a deposit of 50K for the 7 houses?
Ok it is good
……….
Now this is how a basic investigation is carried out………..
Well done to the officer, salute………
We can not go anywhere if people keep voting for crooks to be lawmakers………
But ultimately, it falls at the presidents feet to see all this……….
lungu was too busy stealing and partaking in these thefts to do anything. Lungu is a convicted fraud convict from his days as lawyer.
This issue rises more questions. How on earth could such a hard core thief become Zambia’s top diplomat. The system of scrutinizing those that are appointed to high and sensitive positions has somehow broken down. In the US The President makes the nomination and Congress ratifies. We should have such a system as well so that in futures if we happen to have Bad Presidents again, it will be hard for them to appoint fellow thieves.
He is not different from Kakubo. It seems you have to be a crook to be FA minister.
It all starts when the crooks buy beer and chitenges for the illiterate electorates………
Next thing you know they are MPs and then minister ………..
Only when they steal do we find out, that infact , that one is a crook and theif all his life……….
And should have never been near the corridors of power…………
Only in Zambia can $50,000 buy seven houses???