By IOMMIE CHIWALO
The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) is demanding for an immediate investigation into questionable unusual billing practice between Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) and a Hong Kong based firm AGA Limited.
In a letter made available to this publication which is addressed to Anti-Corruption Bureau acting Director Gabriel Chembezi, CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa demands reactivation of a docket on a dubious US$105,650 EGENCO payment to AGA Limited.
According to Namiwa, the demand comes after details have emerged that EGE-
NCO on March 24, 2023, under contract number EGC 581/55/G/FY
2022-23 dubiously awarded consultancy for Grid Integration assessment for
Chimgonda Hydro-power plant.
Worth calling it dubious contract, in relation to investigations carried out by CDEDI, only the then Chief Executive Officer (CEO) William Liabunya signed
the contract on behalf of Malawians, with Gregory Gamula as a witness while Sam Wong signed for AGA Limited alongside Ancy Michael as a witness but in all this transaction there was no involvement of both the planning and procurement departments.
“Sad to not that in this whole process, both the planning and procurement departments were not involved at any point and neither did such
engagement of such a consultancy or work take place,” says Namiwa.
Adding that the actual drafting of the contract brings to light a
shoddy work that should not be associated with a corporate in EGENCO.
“Simply put, it was hastily done by editing a contract for the supply of
goods since some clauses do not make sense at all. For instance in one of the
clauses it is talking of defects/liability and warranty. In another clause,
it is talking of conformity of products to be supplied. Nonetheless, the terms of payment according to the contract, 100 per-cent payment of the contract price was
payable against the supplier’s presentation of an invoice,” he elaborated.
The CDEDI Executive Director has also revealed that barely 12 days after signing the contract, AGA raised an invoice number INV82744 ref No. REF 77552/1,
order number 008677552-1 dated April 5,2023 and that a month later, EGENCO instructed ECO Bank to remit USD 105,650.00 to AGA Limited to their Dah Sing bank account number 616018146538.
The call for the reactivation of the docket is cemented by independent investigations which further show that the matter in question was duly reported to the ACB) and a file was opened but the docket simply disappeared into thin air.
“The matter was also reported to the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) in copy, but the documents reportedly disappeared as well. We at CDEDI, refuse to accept that this is a sheer coincidence, hence we would like to challenge your office to swiftly reactive this docket and bring the culprits to book as a matter of urgency,”
While the letter has been submitted to the ACB and copied to the FIA, this publication is yet to receive feedback on the next course of action from the concerned Office bearers.
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