Nevers Mumba’s High Commission probe continues

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es.co.zm” class=”f”>Times of Zambia by mitia on 6/4/13

By DELPHINE ZULU  –
FOREIGN Affairs chief procurement and supplies officer, Boyd Mwango, has told the court that the High Commission in Canada had already paid 50 per cent of electrical works without bank guarantee.
Mr Mwango said in the tender document or solicitation document under the general conditions of any contract or particularly, Section 51, clearly indicated that there was no provision that deals with advance payments.
This is in a case where former High Commissioner to Canada Nevers Mumba is charged with failure to comply with applicable procedure relating to management of public funds and three counts of abuse of authority of office.
“The advance was not supposed to be paid before having sureties in the bank as guarantees because if the mission had used the tender document as earlier suggested and advertised in the newspapers we could not have paid the 50 per cent advance without surety,” he said.
He said after some time, he received a letter from the mission requesting for authority to engage a lawyer to get back the money paid to Restcon and he briefed the permanent secretary at the time.
On the carpet contract, the witness said the quotations were addressed to Mrs Florence Mumba (Dr Mumba’s wife) who was not a Government employee and that the quotations were not supposed to be prepared in her name.
“All the quotations were supposed to be in Ms Hildah Musunsa’s name who was the first secretary for politics and administration as she is a Government employee,” he said.
In his continued examination-in-chief yesterday, the witness testified that the mission had paid US$4,975 without a surety from the bank  which he found to be strange because in an event that there was something wrong with the contract, the Zambian Government could  find difficulties to claim it.
Mumba is alleged to have wilfully failed to comply with applicable procedure relating to management of public funds contrary to Section 33(2)(b) of the repealed Anti-Corruption Act No. 38 of 2010.
It is alleged that Mumba between June 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011 at the Zambian High Commission in Canada, wilfully failed to comply with laid down procedures in receiving and disbursing CAD$122,229.85, a donation to the Zambian Government by a private company called Barrick Gold Corporation.
It is alleged further that Mumba, between October 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010, abused his authority of office by awarding contracts valued at CAD$9,000, CAD$19,850 and CAD$5,248.
This was for electrical works, carpeting and construction of a deck at the Zambian High Commission residence in Canada to three Canadian private companies Restcon Construction Services, Argos Carpet Limited and Stanmark Construction respectively without fo