Graft Inquiry in Namibia Finds Clues in China

BEIJING — To the likely consternation of diplomats in both Beijing and faraway Windhoek, a newly minted initiative by Namibia’s government to root out official corruption has snared an early catch: three people who, Namibian prosecutors charge, helped win a lucrative contract for a Chinese company recently headed by the son of Hu Jintao, China’s president.

The charges against the three, including one Chinese national, have yet to be heard in court. There is no public evidence that President Hu’s 38-year-old son, Hu Haifeng, or other high officials of the company, Nuctech Company Limited, knew of the Namibian dealings.

But mere reports of the charges have already prompted Chinese government censors to block Internet surfers from searching for news about the younger Mr. Hu, Namibia or Nuctech, according to the California-based Internet site China Digital Times.

Separately, the office of Namibia’s prosecutor general, Martha Imalwa, said she had traveled to Beijing to request that Mr. Hu be interviewed in the case as a witness, but not as a suspect.

Until last year, Mr. Hu was president of Nuctech, a Beijing-based maker of advanced security scanners used in airports, customs warehouses and other traffic points. He has since been elevated to Communist Party secretary of Tsinghua Holdings, the state-controlled firm that runs Nuctech and about 30 other businesses.

Namibia prosecutors accuse Nuctech’s Africa representative, 39-year-old Yang Fan, and two Namibians of joining in a bribery scheme that secured a $55.3 million contract in May 2008 to install Nuctech scanners at customs inspection points across Namibia.

Most of the cost was to be borne by a so-called soft loan — usually a loan at below market rates or with other favorable terms — that China’s government granted Namibia on the condition that it purchase scanners from Nuctech.

Namibia’s government paid about $12.8 million to Nuctech in February. But prosecutors allege that most of that money was quickly transferred to a Namibian company listed as a Nuctech consultant, and then split among Mr. Yang and the two Namibian defendants.

The case came to light because of a new money-laundering law that requires Namibian banks to routinely report large money transfers to investigators. Prosecutors said that the three defendants in the Nuctech case appear to have spent much of the money on what officials called an enormous spending spree.

Nuctech has offered to send officials to Namibia to aid in the investigation, but has not commented publicly. The three defendants were to appear in court in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, on Wednesday for a bail hearing.

Nuctech was created in 1997 as an offshoot of Tsinghua University, a Beijing campus with a heavy emphasis on technology where both President Hu and, later, his son were engineering graduates.

The company has risen rapidly to become one of the world’s top providers of security scanning equipment, supplying about 50 nations, including the United States. In late 2006, the company won a contract to install advanced scanners at all 147 of China’s airports to detect potentially dangerous liquids.

While the company’s products have won praise from users in places as diverse as Australia and Norway, Nuctech’s business practices have come under increasing scrutiny abroad.

The European Union is investigating whether the company has used soft loan deals from the Chinese government to effectively lower its prices and undercut competitors. South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper reported that Nuctech’s agent in a $380 million scanner sale there was a company implicated in corrupt contracts involving the nation’s scandal-plagued Parliament. In the Philippines, legislators charged that the government’s customs agency overpaid in 2006 and 2007 when it reached a $150 million no-bid agreement, also financed by a soft loan, to install Nuctech scanners at transit points there.

Namibian critics also contend that their government grossly overpaid for the scanning equipment and that much of the excess payments ended up in private hands, including those of some Namibian politicians. Namibia’s inquiry into the deal is ongoing.

John Grobler contributed reporting from Windhoek, Namibia.

Source:Assetrecovery

South Africa: Firm 'steals' R58m for RDP project

By Baldwin Ndaba and Louise Flanagan

The Gauteng provincial government has taken no action against a construction company that received a R58-million housing tender but failed to build a single house - and wrongly claims it might soon run out of time to do this.

It is now more than two years since the then Gauteng premier, Mbhazima Shilowa, pledged to take legal action against Bahlodi Construction Consortium and to recover the money.

Shilowa, who has since quit the ANC and joined COPE as its deputy leader, made the pledge to the affected community on March 12, 2007 during a National Council of Provinces imbizo in Sebokeng.

He also blacklisted the consortium from getting further Gauteng business.

The imbizo was also attended by Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, who was then Gauteng's MEC for housing.

Bahlodi was awarded the tender in 2004 to renew the urban area of Evaton, south of Joburg, where about 90 percent of the population earn less than R3 500 a month.

RDP houses were to be built, with water and sanitation for the township's 200 000 residents, along with new roads and pavements.

Bahlodi's directors were disgraced former first division soccer club owner Azziz Kara, lawyer Mncedisi Richard Ndlovu and Loretta Gail King.

"Legal action was taken on that matter and it is now subject to judicial processes," Mokonyane's spokesman Simon Zwane said on Wednesday.

The Star was on Tuesday unable to contact the consortium or its directors.

Bahlodi, Ndlovu and King had offices in a government building in Pritchard Street in the Joburg CBD, along with a section of the Housing Department, legislature staff and the Public Service Commission.

King still has an office in the same building, running a different business, but it was deserted on Wednesday.

Businesses involving King and Ndlovu still appear on lists of technical resource groups which do business with the Gauteng government.

Local Government and Housing MEC Kgaogelo Lekgoro has now admitted that his department has not recovered a single cent from Bahlodi.

Lekgoro also said the department would be ready to proceed with legal action against the consortium only on September 30, just two months before he said it would be too late to make the claim legally.

Lekgoro's comments were in a written reply to a question in the legislature from DA MPL Jack Bloom on the progress of the investigation into the recovery of the R58m paid to Bahlodi.

"The department has cancelled its contractual obligations with Bahlodi Construction Consortium, appointed a legal team to deal with all the legalities pertaining to anticipated litigation on the matter, and is in the process of conducting a forensic audit," said Lekgoro.

He said the department had commissioned a legal audit on the Evaton project in 2006.

Asked how much money had been recovered, Lekgoro replied: "None."

He said the department's forensic investigations would be completed by August 31 and a claim was likely to be lodged by September 30.

"The claim takes three years to prescribe. In this instance it will prescribe at the end of November 2009," said Lekgoro.

When asked what action had been taken against Housing Department officials over the matter, Lekgoro said none had been identified, so "no disciplinary action has been taken against any official in the department".

But there would be nothing stopping the province from bringing criminal charges of fraud and getting its money back through the Asset Forfeiture Unit.

On Wednesday, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga told The Star thatfraud charges prescribed after only 20 years, but there was no time limit set for asset forfeiture.

Bloom criticised Mokonyane for preaching against corruption as premier but doing little about this matter while she was the responsible MEC.

"How can it be that not a single housing official has been disciplined for allowing Bahlodi to do virtually nothing it was paid to do in the Evaton Urban Renewal Project?" he asked.

"Were they all fast asleep, or did they deliberately collude with this company that has so far got away with millions of rands that should have benefited the poor?"

He said the action was "inexcusably slow" and he wasn't convinced the department would sue Bahlodi in time.

Malawi Anti-Corruption Body to Release Passport after Muluzi Signs Bond

Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) says former President Bakili Muluzi's passport can be returned after he signs a $13 million bond. The ACB said the bond would ensure that Muluzi returns to face graft charges after his scheduled medical trip to the United Kingdom.

The anti-corruption body seized Muluzi's passport claiming it had information that the former president would not return to face corruption charges.

Muluzi is facing corruption charges after being accused of diverting donor funds into his personal account, charges he denies.

ACB chairman Alex Nampota told VOA that Muluzi's properties would not be confiscated if he returns after his medical trip.

"If he (Muluzi) comes back, then there is no problem. But in the event he doesn't come back, all the properties which are a subject of a seizure warrant which we obtained get vested in the government and get sold to make good the $13 million dollars," said Nampota.

He described as suspicious the former president's challenge of the bond.

"Now, he is resisting in the court to say he doesn't want to execute the bond. And we are wondering, if he is coming back, why the resistance? So, this also gives us the impression that probably there is something amiss about this trip that is making it difficult for him to execute a bond," he said.

Nampota said the ACB is not to blame for the delay in Muluzi's scheduled medical trip.

"We want to give him his passport as soon as possible. All he does is [sign] a bond. We wondered where the urgency of the (Muluzi's medical) trip had gone suddenly," Nampota said.

But supporters of the former president said they are unhappy by what they describe as the ill-treatment meted out to Muluzi.

"We are in an extreme sense very saddened and we feel sorry about it," said Humphrey Mvula, director of research of Muluzi's opposition United Democratic Party (UDF)

He sharply denied Muluzi's refusal to execute the bond was because he had something to hide.

"The area of subsequent legal action of requiring a bond and withdrawing a passport were obtained ex parte [by a judge, without all parties present]. I'm sure if good intentions were demonstrated through the defense and the prosecution sitting down and talking about it, probably the lawyers or anybody else would have looked at it differently," he said.

Mvula said the former president will return to face the graft charges against him.

"He has never wanted to run away and he will not run away. He is not a small person," Mvula said.

He questioned the timing of the ACB's claim of a tip-off that led to Muluzi's passport seizure.

"As a party, we have said that look, if indeed there was an anonymous caller, it should have been treated with a lot of contempt because that anonymous caller should have been so ignorant of what happens when a former president is traveling," he said.

Bakili Muluzi stepped down in 2004 after serving two consecutive terms as Malawi's president, but not until he tried unsuccessfully to change the constitution to allow him to run again.

Assetrecovery.org

Nigeria: Halliburton - C'ttee Names Culprits August-

Abuja — The high powered security investigative committee set up by the Federal Government to probe the Halliburton bribery scandal is expected to submit its report, including a detailed list of top ranking government officials involved in the scandal, sometime next month.

The committee which was inaugurated by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation Michael Aondoakaa in April this year and given 8 weeks to submit its reports had its life span extended by an additional 8 weeks.

A source close to the committee said "The committee was earlier given 8 weeks to investigate the matter but government had to add 8 more weeks to it to be able to investigate conveniently. The committee which would have submitted the names of the bribe takers last month (June) will now do so in August."

The committee which has the Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro as Chairman comprises Farida Waziri, chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), representative of National Security Adviser, representative of Director-General (DG), National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and representative of DG, State Security Service (SSS).

The engineering subsidiary of Halliburton Co., Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) Inc. of the United States, had pleaded guilty to five federal charges that it paid $180 million as bribes to Nigerian officials in respect of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) contracts. The bribes were allegedly offered between 1995 when the nearly $7 billion contract was awarded and 2004, and possibly beyond.

Aondoakaa said while inaugurating the committee that the government would not protect anybody found wanting in the Halliburton scandal from being punished.

The people quizzed by the committee in connection to the alleged scandal included a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal A. D. Bello, a former federal Permanent Secretary Ibrahim Aliyu and a former Inspector General of Police M. D. Yusufu. Others are the former Director-General of the defunct National Security Organisation, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, a former Minister of Petroleum, Chief Don Etiebet as well as former Group Managing Directors of the NigeriaNational Petroleum Corporation Mr. Funsho Kupolokun and Gauis Obaseki. The committee has also investigated some of the aides of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdulkadir Abacha and a son of the Emir of Kano all in connection with the matter. Former Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar and former President Obasanjo, who were in power during the bribe sharing period, have not been investigated.

The committee has pledged to intimate the INTERPOL about the culprits and seize the travel documents of those involved. The committee had also indicated interest to travel abroad and obtain documents which could be used as evidence in prosecuting the bribe takers. The Federal Government had approved N45 million for the committee to investigate the matter. Part of the money will be used by the committee to travel to USA, France and Switzerland and obtain further evidence.

Congo's bishops urge citizens to fight corruption in their country

The Catholic bishops of Congo have called on each citizen to become personally involved in the fight against deeply rooted corruption in the African country.

The bishops describe corruption as "one of the bases for the unequal distribution of national resources between the wealthy classes, made up of public authorities, and the majority of the population who live in misery."

In a pastoral letter, "Restoration of the Nation by the Fight Against Corruption," the Kinshasa-based bishops' conference said that, "despite commitments made by the government, we see no real determination of our political leaders to put in place mechanisms to prevent and punishcorruption."

In the July 10 letter, read in churches July 12 and published on the conference Web site, the bishops said corrupt practices are gradually eating their way into governmental affairs. Suchcorruption can only be fought with a "merciless struggle," they said.

"The success of this struggle will also depend on the population, urged to abandon its passivity in denouncing corruption and, therefore, to avoid becoming accomplices in an evil of which the people themselves are the first victim," they said.

The letter was written in the context of the 49th anniversary of Congo's independence from Belgium, celebrated June 30.

As the 50th anniversary approaches, the bishops declared a jubilee year, "a year of renewal and joy, of turning back to God, to put an end to the practices of corruption and sin that are destroying the nation, and to build with God, in justice, a fraternal, prosperous and happy Congo."

Looking back over 49 years of independence, the bishops noted "undeniable advances," including resistance to several attempts to divide the country by the secession of provinces; the creation of democratic institutions; and an educated class. But they also noted that the country has gone backward in several areas.

"Throughout the years, anti-values have deconstructed the ethical tissue of our society," the bishops said. These include "repeated wars which have led thousands to their deaths," social infrastructures on the verge of collapse, and the malfunction of public and territorial administrations, the courts, national education and the armed forces.

Such social problems and deeply rooted corruption also can be attributed to the absence or dysfunction of all state institutions, and the bishops described every Congolese citizen as "abandoned by the state, at the mercy of any forces."

The bishops referred to the Congolese who had fled conflict in their nation but were forced by neighboring countries to return in "conditions of violence and humiliation which have still not drawn any credible reaction of indignation from our political leaders."

Those repatriated and the Congolese displaced within their country because of fighting are "abandoned to their sad fate, without any assistance proportional to their distress."

The presence of armed groups that periodically destroy parts of the East and Northeast are outside the control of the authorities and are another symptom of the weak society that should be a matter of great concern to the government, the bishops said.

In the face of the country's incapacity to deal with the needs of a suffering population, international aid organizations set themselves up "wherever they want to and do whatever they want to," the bishops said. Congolese nongovernmental organizations that spring up, profiting from the absence of the state, are "ingenious in their embezzlement of funds and resources intended for the poor."

However, the bishops said, the Congolese government should not shoulder the entire blame for the weak state of the nation. They said such weakness may be "orchestrated by organizations and shadowy forces who would wish to control the (Democratic Republic of) Congo and its mineral wealth for their own exploitation." Such forces, the bishops said, work "hand in hand with those Congolese who place their own private interests above the interests of those of the majority of the population."

Some people have raised questions about the real will of some international powers to put an end to the conflicts in the country in order to maintain in Congo such organizations and "shadowy forces."

Although the bishops did not name any countries, Rwanda and Uganda have armed groups fighting on Congolese territory, and they receive support from other countries, including the United States, Britain and Belgium. The latter powers are influential in decisions made regarding the presence of U.N. peacekeeping troops in war zones.

The bishops called on the faithful to meditate on such issues as the church embarks on the 2009-2010 jubilee year. They asked Catholics to participate in "fervent prayer, acts of repentance for the past in order to obtain from God goodness and mercy, an abundance of divine grace, profound and lasting peace brought by the irrevocable advancement toward progress and prosperity for all, without exception."

Assetrecovery.com

Uganda: Why Indian and Chinese Firms Are Most Likely to Pay Bribes

Indian and Chinese companies are the most likely to pay bribes when operating in Africa. These are the findings of the 2008 Bribe Payers Index of Transparency International, a globalcorruption watchdog.

Worldwide, companies from China and India also score among the top four in all three categories of bribery assessed.

These include bribery of high-ranking politicians or political parties, bribery of low-level public officials to speed up things, and the use of personal relationships to win public contracts.

The Berlin-based organisation interviewed 2,742 senior executives from companies in 26 developed and developing countries, picked for their volumes of imports and direct foreign investments. The sectors found the most affected by bribery were construction, public works contracts, real estate and property development, oil and gas, and mining.

In these sectors, according to Transparency International, two types of bribery exist: the directbribery of public officials to obtain contracts, and 'state capture', meaning efforts by firms to shape and influence the underlying rules of the game.

The banking and finance sectors were seen to perform considerably worse in terms of state capture than bribery of public officials.

"Africa's development efforts are being hampered by exporting companies from the developed and emerging markets which continue to bribe their way into winning contracts", says theTransparency International report.

"Foreign companies that commit the crime of bribery are undercutting Africa's anti-poverty efforts," states its regional director for Africa, Casey Kelso.

"African countries should prosecute them vigorously. Regional development institutions, such as the African Development Bank, can help by enforcing debarment programmes that block crooked companies from profiting from development dollars while the poor are left out of the picture."

Not accountable

One of the reasons Asian companies are more likely to pay bribes abroad is the fact that they cannot be held accountable at home.

China and India do not have laws that govern bribery of officials abroad. While China has strengthened its legislation on corruption involving its own officials, it has no laws that prohibit foreign bribery.

Legislation in India is even weaker. There is no definition of foreign bribery in India and there are no provisions on foreign bribery in its Prevention of Corruption Act.

"Even if foreign bribery were a criminal offence, obstacles would exist including jurisdictional limitations and lack of liability for corporates," according to the Transparency Internationalreport.

"Furthermore, gifts, travel expenses, facilitating payments and grease payments are not considered an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act."

India has also refused to cooperate with other governments on investigating corruption cases. "There are foreign bribery cases in which the Indian government has not responded in a satisfactory way to requests for mutual legal assistance from other states," the report says.

Anti-Bribery Convention

Moreover, China and India have refused to adopt the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

The convention, which came into force in 1999, establishes legally binding standards to criminalise bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions.

The treaty has been adopted by the 30 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and eight non-member countries - Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Estonia, Israel, the Slovenia and South Africa.

"The progress (by the convention) will be undermined as long as major players such as China, India and Russia remain outside the framework," says Transparency International.

The convention was established out of a genuine concern among governments of rich countries that bribery was a widespread phenomenon in international business transactions, including trade and investment.

Apart from the serious moral and political implications, the governments realised that the practice undermined good governance and economic development in developing countries and distorted international competitive conditions.

The 38 member states have vowed to make it a criminal offence under its law for any of its nationals or companies to offer or promise "undue pecuniary or other advantage, whether directly or through intermediaries, to a foreign public official in order to obtain or retain business or other improper advantage in the conduct of international business."

They also agreed to make complicity in an act of bribery, including incitement, aiding or authorisation, a criminal offence.

"The bribery of a foreign public official shall be punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties.

The range of penalties shall include deprivation of liberty sufficient to enable effective mutual legal assistance and extradition," reads the convention.

Penalties may include monetary sanctions as well as seizure of the bribe, the proceeds of thebribery or confiscating property amounting to the value of the proceeds.

The countries further promised that investigation and prosecution of bribery cases will not be influenced by "considerations of national economic interest, the potential effect upon relations with another state or the identity of the people involved".

In order to combat bribery of foreign public officials effectively, they resolved to also punish companies which do not keep books and records according to auditing standards, or which falsify data.

This, the convention said, is to prohibit off-the-books accounts, inadequately identified transactions, non-existent expenditures, as well as the use of false documents by companies for the purpose of bribing foreign public officials or hiding bribery.

The member states promised to give each other prompt and effective legal assistance, as well as provide any information or documents needed for the purpose of criminal investigations and proceedings.

"A party shall not decline to render mutual legal assistance for criminal matters on the ground of bank secrecy," the convention reads.

Unfair competition

The 38 member states meet every year to discuss progress reports on cases reported and investigated, as well as monitor the full implementation of the convention.

In the last decade, the convention has resulted in more than 350 investigations. Over 60 individuals and companies have been sanctioned for committing foreign bribery.

And although Indian and Chinese companies have been named in many overseas corruptionscandals, there have been no cases brought in either country for foreign bribery.

The Volcker report on the UN Oil-For-Food Programme in Iraq, for example, implicated over 120 Indian companies.

The fact that firms from rich countries are bound by rules which do not apply to companies from emerging economies, operating in the same environment, provides for unfair competition and disadvantages those who want to conduct clean business.

Transparency International, therefore, urges China and India to sign the Anti-BriberyConvention expeditiously, warning that the treaty might collapse if the present unjust conditions persist.

"Major free riders outside the system are a strong disincentive for OECD-based companies andOECD countries to play by the rules. If the system breaks down, everyone will lose."

Source:Assetrecovery.org

The ANC Youth League and the missing millions

Moipone Malefane
Draft report uncovers a host of irregularities — but league won’t act The report, which tracks 32 deals worth at least R436-million, states the Companies Act has been violated Article Tools Print E-Mail Save and Share Youth league’s missing cash Prominent ANC Youth League leaders should be made to account for millions of rands that went missing from the organisation’s investment wing Lembede Investment Holdings, and its subsidiary companies. Malema wants investment arm closed Nando’s television advert But the league’s executive has decided to sweep the report under the carpet and not pursue individuals who may have abused company funds or violated the Companies Act, which is a criminal offence. The 65-page Gobodo draft report, which the Sunday Times has seen, has uncovered a litany of financial irregularities that appear to have been the order of the day since the formation of Lembede Investment Holdings in 2000. Lembede was set up by the league to help to create business opportunities for young people and to free the organisation from financial dependence on the ANC main body. The Gobodo report has recommended that several former league leaders be questioned in relation to the transactions and monies they handled. Those who have been asked to account include former leaders Lunga Ncwana and Songezo Mjongile, who were high-profile associates of slain mining magnate Brett Kebble, former treasurer Pumezo Mqingwana, outgoing Lembede CEO Lonwabo Sambudla, and interim chief executive of the newly created National Youth Development Agency, Malose Kekana. Businessman Sello Rasethaba, who was also a close associate of Kebble and a friend of the league’s leaders, should also be questioned, the report says. League president Julius Malema initiated the probe after he publicly said last year the company must be disbanded. The ANCYL appointed Gobodo Incorporated in October last year to determine if there was any substance to the allegations of misuse of Lembede funds for personal gain. Lembede’s new board, under the chairmanship of current ANCYL treasurer-general Pule Mabe, released just two pages of the report on Thursday. It only mentioned the fact that the report found that Lembede had no audited annual financial statements and that the previous management failed to keep accounting records. Justifying his statement that no criminal charges would be laid against anyone, Mabe said the report did not point fingers at anyone. Although he said no further steps would be taken to address possible corruption, the report clearly states that the Companies Act has been violated. “We were never interested in personalities but wanted answers on whether Lembede was doing what it was formed for, or not. We have looked at the conclusions and want to implement the recommendations,” Mabe said. The draft report tracks 32 deals worth at least R436-million that involved Lembede Investment Holdings and its subsidiaries, but it does not reflect the current status of any of those deals. It also features many typographical errors and appears not to have been subjected to a final edit before the league’s leadership decided to release only certain details and then close the probe. Nine of the deals that Lembede struck are in the mining and resources sector, four are in telecoms and technology, and the rest are in fields including finance, fishing, forestry and engineering. Contrary to what Mabe said earlier this week, the report proposes follow-up inquiries with current and former Lembede officials and repeatedly records a lack of documentation and information to fully understand the scope, value or outcome of the deals. Among other things, Gobodo said: Kekana, former chief of Lembede’s Progressive Youth Investment Company — a Lembede associated company — failed to account for R2-million paid by Nedbank for PYIC’s stake in the People’s Bank; There is no record of any benefits being banked by LIH from its 10% stake in empowerment company Phikoloso Mining, which, at one point, held R270-million in shares in Brett Kebble’s Randgold & Exploration Company; There is no trace of LIH’s R45000 share of a consultancy contract awarded to Nghala Mining, nor of its 5% holding, said in the report to be worth R5-million; The LIH board was told in 2006 that the company’s stake in a company called Matodzi Engineering, one of Rasethaba’s companies, had been sold for R2888 889, but only R2.5-million was banked, leaving R388889 unaccounted for; In 2003, Lembede set up a joint venture with Mococh, an oil company based on the Isle of Man, to import oil into South Africa and export it from here to neighbouring countries, including Zimbabwe. The venture only concluded one transaction — on behalf of PetroSA — and there is no record of any income from the deal being banked by LIH; Lembede bought a share in the company Fibretek when it was sold off by Denel, but defaulted on its obligation to contribute R1-million to the company’s operating capital. As a result, Lembede’s share was sold for R200000, but Gobodo could not find what had happened to that income. The audit report suggests there could have been a violation of the Companies Act ; Gobodo was unable to find any records concerning six deals reportedly entered into by LIH and was also unable to find enough documentation to assess the status of a deal between Lembede and Kebble’s JCI Gold. The deal appeared to include mineral rights and fishing licences; LIH distributed R4.6-million to shareholders after selling its stake in Mahube consortium, which owned platinum mining rights, and LIH chairman Pumezo Mqingwana distributed a further R90000 to unidentified beneficiaries from a “discretionary fund”. Gobodo calls for more information on the transaction and the unexplained fund; LIH entered into a scrip lending agreement with Kebble in 2005. It later emerged that Lembede did not actually own some of the stock it had put up as security and that LIH might have signed an agreement without understanding what was being agreed to; Mjongile has to answer why there was only one transaction from PetroSA and what happened to the proceeds of the deal; and Mjongile has to further explain what happened to the R200000 reported to have been received from Fibretek deal. Mjongile told the Sunday Times yesterday that, at the end of his term as Lembede CEO, he reported and handed over “everything to the ANCYL national executive. I was never contacted by Gobodo. If they needed clarity they would have contacted me.” Asked whether he had seen the report, he said: “I do not know what you are talking about.” Outgoing Lembede CEO Lonwabo Sambudla confirmed that the auditors interviewed him but this had had nothing to do with his period as CEO. He said he would hand over “everything” when he leaves, adding that, as chief operations officer, he had inherited problems left by the organisation’s previous managers. Kekana yesterday said he had never been a director or a shareholder of Lembede or its CEO, although the report clearly states that he was head of PYIC, which is Lembede’s associated company. He said he has “not been privy to any report nor have I been contacted for any investigations”. Mabe said Lembede’s assets would be consolidated into a trust.

Nigeria: Akpabio Says Governors' Position Not Confrontational

Governor Chief Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria. He has blamed successive governments for the failure to develop programs that would curb violence in the Niger Delta.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Akpabio S’South Govs’ Position Not Confrontational

From Okon Bassey in Uyo, 08.04.2009
Courtesy of Nigeria's ThisDay Newspaper

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, yesterday advised the Federal Government not to see the position of the governors and leaders of the South-south states as confrontational, saying the citizens are now alert following continuous marginalisation of the zone.

Akpabio spoke while responding to a speech by Chief Edwin Clark at a meeting he held with the leaders and elders of the Niger Delta region in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Capital.

Clark had, at the meeting, said that the period of marginalisation of the people of the region by the government at the centre was over, adding leaders and elders of the region are prepared to back the governors of the region on any position to correct years of injustice and marginalisation.

Clark, who led the team, expressed dismay that several reports churned out by various committees had been forwarded to the Federal Government but nothing happened.

“Where are we going from here, reports upon reports have been thrown into the dust bin, If they have been implemented, it would have acted as a very good post-amnesty plan, ” he lamented.

"If Ledium Mitee report was implemented," he said, "most of the problems of the Niger Delta would have have been taken care of," wondering why the Federal Government is still sitting on the report.

The elder statesman recalled that during the constitutional conference, "50 per cent derivation was demanded, but they walked out on us," asking that now that the boys in the creeks have accepted amnesty,"what would be their fall back at the end in two months time.”

Clark posited that as Nigerians, true federalism must now be implemented, seeking to know why some people in the country should parade themselves as the owner of Nigeria while the region that provides wealth of the nation is being sidelined in the scheme of things.

“Mr. Governor, can you believe that in the just concluded NNPC reorganisation, of the 24 promotions, the Niger Delta was given only three slots while the North was given 21 slots.

“Besides, we have on record that, the panel that carried out the reorganisation did not have anybody from the Niger Delta or South- South”, Clark complained.

According to him, the leaders and elders of the region are solidly behind the Niger Delta governor’s decision on the anti Federal Government's stand on the Niger Delta region.