Police in Lusaka are probing a matter where some Zambians and Chinese nationals allegedly forged a letter to in order to take over control of a mine in Chongwe formerly operated by Indian investors.
Meanwhile police sources have said one of the accomplices in the forgery scandal allegedly paid a Times of Zambia reporter, Sylvester Mwale, to publish a story based on a fake document, which the police have condemned as unprofessional journalism.
According to the police, senior detectives are pursuing a group of individuals being led by George Mwamba, a relative to former Defence Minister Geoffrey Mwamba, who had allegedly forged a letter purporting that Indian investors from Vikram Investment Limited had sold 1,500 hectors of land which the Ministry of Mines had awarded the company a prospecting mining and quarrying licence. The forged letter, which George Mwamba is trying to circulate to media houses alleges that Vikram Investments Limited has sold 1,500 hectres of land to a company called T/A Chituna Mining and Construction Limited.
Police sources have confirmed that the letter, which George Mwamba had been circulating, was suspicious just on its face and this raised many people’s concerns who had seen it.
“George Mwamba is a mastermind in all this. He has been using the name of the former minister Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba or GBM, that of the government and the Patriotic Front. His relative GBM has left government now but he still cheats and wants to intimidate people that he has influence using the ruling party,” a source at Lusaka Central Police said.
Lemmy Kajoba is the Commissioner of Police for Lusaka and officially, he acknowledged that the police Lusaka had received a formal complaint from Vikram Investments Limited proprietor Yaddula Vinod that some people had forged an offer letter to show that T/A Chituna and Construction Limited had purchased 1, 500 hectors of land at the cost of US$ 700, 000.
“We can confirm that we have received a complaint letter from Vikram Investment Limited over a forged letter purporting that the company had sold its mining land. We have since instituted investigations into the matter and we intend to interview the two parties over the letter. We are also aware that the there was an injunction against the Chinese company. So until we are through with the investigations, we will not be able to discuss the matter. The police are aware that there have been wrangles between Vikram Investments Limited and a Chinese firm, China Jiangsu International Limited which was illegally conducted its quarrying and mining activities on the land in dispute. We will interview the two parties over the disputed land but investigations into the forged letter will be extensive to reach a comprehensive conclusion,” said Kajoba.
The forged letter bears no date, claims to have been authored by a Mrs Patricia Mwale from Emmasdale and claiming to be from Vikram Investment Limited addressed to Joseph Tungati Kangwa.
“Vikram Investment Limited is pleased to offer T/A Chituna Mining and Construction Limited the purchase of the Quarry mine in Shantumbu/Bauleni area consisting of 1 500 hectors. Our price is US$700,000 (Seven hundred thousand United States Dollars only).”
The fake document alleges that Mrs Patricia Mwale of Emmasdale, Mr Henry Dijimu of Kabulonga, Mr Lucky Phiri of Kawala South and Mr John Abel Phiri had the sale mandate for the quarry under the prospecting mining and quarrying licence number 16703-HQ-LPL.
The letter purporting that Vikram Investment Limited had sold his mining and quarrying land was signed by Mrs Mwale and Mr Dijimu but the two could not be contacted as the contact numbers they had indicated on the letter were all invalid.
According to police sources, Mwamba allegedly bribed a Times of Zambia reporter Sylvester Mwale to publish a story in the Sunday Times of Zambia to show that Vikram Investments Limited had offered to sell the land where it had a prospecting licence.
“The police have inside information and we want to raise the matter regarding the biased and unprofessional reporting by the Sunday Times reporter Syvester Mwale who published a story sourced from a forged letter. If the reporter was professional, he could have taken time to investigate and arrive at the truth. As police we take this seriously and shall get to the bottom of the matter but investigations have so far shown that money exchanged hands between Mr George Mwamba and Mr Sylvester Mwale of Times of Zambia,” the police said.
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