THE Southern Africa Network Against Corruption (SANAC) says it is surprising that investigative wings have not acted on the scandals surrounding the purchase of minority shares by the Industrial Development Corporation, NAPSA and the Workers Compensation Fund Control Board in the Marcopolo Tiles Company.

In a statement, Monday, SANAC executive director Gregory Chifire challenged the law enforcement agencies to enforce the law on the matter, charging that there was theft of public money.

“The Southern Africa Network Against Corruption (SANAC) has been following with keen interest the transaction regarding the purchase of minority shares by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) and the Workers Compensation Fund Control Board (WCFCB) in the Chinese owned Marcopolo Tiles Company Limited. According to the investigations by News diggers Newspaper, the IDC, NAPSA, and the WCFCB paid a total of $44.8m for the purchase of the said shares into personal accounts of the two directors and owners of Marcopolo Tile’s namely, Zhang Lingling and Huang Yao Chi as opposed to paying in the company account of Marcopolo Tiles,” he stated.

“The Newspaper further revealed that kickbacks amounting to over K10m were paid to individuals at the IDC and other huge amounts paid to PF officials. This information is in the public domain. As an organization, we are surprised that the Investigative wings of government, that is the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), the Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC) and indeed the Zambia Police Service have not acted on this matter. We are henceforth challenging the DEC, the ACC and indeed the Police to enforce the law because this is a prima facie case of corruption and theft of public money.”

Chifire said the inaction being exhibited by the investigative wings did not inspire confidence in the fight against graft.

“Zambians are desirous to see a practical fight against Corruption and theft of public money. The inertia being exhibited by the Investigative wings of government does not inspire confidence in the fight against graft and white collar crime. The Marcopolo Tiles transaction smacks of grand corruption and we have no doubt that the transaction was used for the purpose of stealing money from the Republic of Zambia and from innocent pensioners by a known cartel using the two Chinese nationals as a conduit. It is clear that the $915 share price for a new company that was incorporated a few years ago was inflated so as to facilitate this grand theft,” he said.

Chifire therefore called on investigative wings to inform citizens on how far they had gone regarding the said matter.

“The Marcopolo transaction is one of the biggest financial syndicates in modern-day Zambia, facilitated by institutions mandated to create wealth for the people. This syndicate shows the extent to which these institutions, IDC, NAPSA and the WCFCB have been used to siphon public and pensioners money. We repeat our call to the Investigative wings to inform the members of the citizens who are the owners of this money, how far they have gone regarding this matter,” stated Chifire.