Zambia’s Deputy Minister of Commerce Miles Sampa is well known as one of the most ambitious members of President Michael Sata’s cabinet, however, according to exclusive new leaked documents, he may also be one of the most corrupt.
Sampa, who is also the Matero Member of Parliament as well as a nephew of President Sata, registered a company earlier this year using proxies called Fyempulo Logistics and Distributors, with the sole purpose of doing business with government departments without him declaring interest. Fyempulo was registered on January 16, 2014 (making it impossible for Sampa to claim that he “owned the business before joining politics”), and is in the business of supplying medical equipment to the Ministry of Health and is one of the big transporters under the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).
According to documents obtained by Zambia Reports, Sampa registered the company in the names of “Evaristo Mukuka” a Zambian of NRC number 191364/65/1 of residential address House No 1354/1 Kamwala South Lusaka, and “Mukuka Lukonde,” also a Zambian of NRC number 355114/67/1 residential address Plot number 36/A Chawama Lusaka.
However despite taking measures to conceal his ownership of the company through these proxies, Mr. Sampa left a paper trail when he registered the company this year. According to the documents from the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA), the Physical Address for Fyempulo Logistics and Distributors Limited is Plot Number 41 Kudu Road Kabulonga in Lusaka Zambia and the Box number is 35127.
Plot 41, Kudu Road Kabulonga is the personal residence of none other than the Deputy Minister of Commerce Miles Sampa. A check in the Lands Register at the Ministry of Lands confirm that Plot 41 Kudu Road Kabulonga belongs to Mr.Sampa.
Further verbal enquiries from the Zambia Postal Services reveal that box 35127 is rented by Miles Sampa.
Sampa, who is a former employee of the embattled banker Rajan Mahtani, bought the house from Barclays Bank in 2004 after the High Court had ruled in favour of the bank after the previous owner a Ms. Muyunda Sylivia Nyambe defaulted over a loan of K 414,918,593.50 at the time.
Barclays Bank was by then being represented by a law firm called Makala and Company.
The Commerce Deputy Minister bought the house at K 250,000,000 then and was represented by Lusaka Lawyer Lewis Mosho. In 2005,Sampa used the same house as collateral to borrow K 250,000,000 from Finance Building Society, a sister company to Finance Bank, the bank Miles Sampa worked for. He discharged the mortgage from Finance Building Society in 2010 by borrowing K 1,000,000,000 then from Stanbic Bank and he has not settled it up to now.
When contacted at a social place to confirm whether he owned any logistic and distribution company in Zambia, Mr. Evaristo Mukuka, who did not know he was speaking to a Zambia Reports Correspondent, denied ever having registered a Logistics and Distribution Company.
Efforts to get to Mukuka Lukonde of Chawama failed as the house could not be located.
Miles Sampa is one of the very few Bembas who belonged to the Wynter Kabimba group was one of those who made sure that former Defense Minister Geofrey Bwalya Mwamba’s company Arizona was chopped off from the list of Transporters at FRA. Later GBM was charged by the police for failure to declare interest when bidding as transporter for FRA.
Miles Sampa did not even bid at FRA. Besides his company (FYEMPULO) did not even meet the conditions because FRA needed transporters who had been in business for three years. Fyempulo has been in business for less than a year. The Bank Account for Fyempul is at Finance Bank and the signatories are said to be Miles and his Wife. Nevertheless, the company is believed to be doing several million dollars worth of business with the Zambian government without proper tender and awarded the work thanks to unlawful influence by the company’s true owner.
Could this money have come from the Eurobond campaign or kickbacks from investors to facilitate Development Agreements under the Zambia Development Agency? The answer is a story for another day but here is a challenge for the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC). These are clearly grounds of an investigation on the basis of abuse of authority of office.
Additionally, Sampa could be in trouble for other reasons. Is it not a crime to willfully give false information to a public officer? Miles failed to disclose his ownership of the company before PACRA when he registered Fyempulo. See all the necessary documents attached.
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