By Staff Reporter
Acting PF secretary general Nixon Chilangwa was summoned over the campaign vehicles which are said to have come into the country duty free, sources in the Joint Investigation Team have told Daily Revelation.
But media director in the PF central committee Raphael Nakachinda described investigations about PF bringing in the motor vehicles duty free as a hoax, and that there are also assertions that the ruling UPND allegedly received US$300,000 at one point from Vedanta and some Mahindra vans, and hence the “stage managed” demonstrations to get the company back into KCM.
Meanwhile, sources in the JIT have told Daily Revelation that they have restricted access to properties and accounts belonging to Davies Tembo, who is said to have been connected with the State House of Edgar Lungu.
Well placed sources have told Daily Revelation that there was an organisation named AGOA, which was allegedly created by the PF during their time in power, which brought in the vehicles but never paid any duty to ZRA.
“Background Information is that during the elections, the people who worked as drivers were not paid and were demanding to be paid, so a decision was reached to sell those vehicles and pay those people. So it is those vehicles the new government got interested in, in who got the money and what taxes were paid for them. Some of these vehicles are also said to have been given to the chiefs,” sources said. “So government lost a lot of money through that. Some actually took advantage of the same and used their PF connections to bring in the money duty free. Some of these vehicles which came in during the campaign period were those which were found hidden in Lusaka West.”
Chilangwa did not take calls when contacted for comment.
But Nakachinda described the assertions of motor vehicles coming in tax free as “a hoax” and that it was bogus.
He described the move as the UPND’s continuous malicious prosecution aimed at intimidating, harassing and break the senior of members of the PF, and break the spirit to rebuild that organisation.
Nakachinda said motor vehicles were not like bicycles that they could come into the country without paying duty.
“If it doesn’t pay duty, are you sure there are no other mechanisms for which a motor vehicle for it to be on the road is supposed to be road worth? Usually people judge others of what they are guilty of. When somebody is a thief they think that everybody is a thief,” he said.
Nakachinda said these allegations were speaking to the mindset the current leadership had towards governance, saying if people begin to think that things could be done in such a criminal manner, then they themselves were relishing idea of wanting to do such things when an election comes.
He said this country had rules and regulations, saying if there were vehicles that never paid duty and were campaigning, in a democratic society not everybody belonged to one party even in government institutions, therefore it was difficult to do something illegal.
Nakachinda wondered why PF was the only party being questioned about the sources of funding and resources for the campaigns, arguing that there was no law which demands that a political party should declare their source of funding.
“If for example as a member I decide that in the next by-election, or next general election I am going to make available my car for campaigns and then after the campaign I will withdraw it, now does that amount to a criminal activity?” Nakachinda asked. “The UPND themselves we know of the vehicles that they got in the 2015 by-elections, that they were given Toyota Hiluxes, up to now they still have them. They were never prosecuted even when we knew where they were getting those vehicles and how they came into this country, in a manner than was basically through pseudo names and so on and so forth.”
He continued, saying there were assertions that they got money from Vedanta “hence the payback through the propaganda and stage-managed protests in Chingola and Chililabombwe of people demanding for Vedanta to come back.”
Nakachinda said it was alleged that at some point the UPND received $300,000 and also had Mahindra vans purchased for them, and that the same were still being used by the ruling party.
He said under the current legal framework, such donations were not illegal in the country, saying the only thing parties must summon is the moral compass not to receive money from those with dirty hands.
Asked on information that property and assets belonging to Davies Tembo who reportedly engaged in some dealings with State House and PF had been ceased, Nakachinda said everyone who was associated or perceived to be associated with the PF was being harassed.
