Fingers must burn over Zamtel sale, says Mtesa
The Post Online, November 28, 2011

FINGERS must burn over the fraudulent sale of Zamtel, says Ambassador Love Mtesa.

In an interview, Ambassador Mtesa, who is Consumer Unit and Trust Society (CUTS) International Zambia board chairperson called for the repossession of Zamtel and prosecution of all those involved in the fraudulent sale of the country's largest telecommunication company.

He said no stone should be left unturned over the fraudulent sale of Zamtel and people that were involved should be made to pay.

"The scam which is being unearthed with regard to Zamtel cannot be protected under the issue of international law," Ambassador Mtesa said.

"It is very clear that people concerned should be charged with three offences. The first one is economic sabotage, secondly corruption and thirdly theft. And all those concerns should happen, no one should be spared…they should not say international community will think otherwise, no! This is a clear case of corruption."

He said there should be no excuses against repossessing Zamtel because the deal "stinks of corruption in the first place".

"My view is that Zamtel should be repossessed by the state and re-advertised for sale in a transparent manner," he said.

"Investors are not crooks. Investors can see where there is a scam. We should not assume that investors are like crooks. Investors are reasonable people who are able to tell where there is a scam, where there is corruption. The sale of Zamtel is not transparent at all. It cannot scare away investors."

Ambassador Mtesa further said people that were involved in the sale of Zamtel should be made to pay legal fees that may arise from its repossession.

"People who are involved in this must pay legal costs. The assets that they have should be sold to foot the legal expenses. Zambians should not be made to suffer. They knew in the first place that what they were doing was illegal but they went through with it, why then should Zambians be made to pay? They should be the ones to pay," said Ambassador Mtesa.

"It's like the issue of paying legal cost for Chanda Chimba, why should the government pay for that? That should be paid by the MMD and individuals concerned, not the government. If people involved were to pay the cost, this would ensure that leaders in future are careful and do not involve themselves in such activities because they would know that the consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate.".

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