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| National |
| Nadhi dealt with Kapito — ACB |
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by
Gedion Munthali, 14 March 2003
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A prosecution witness in the Petroleum Control Commission (PCC) corruption case said Thursday Muhammed Nadhi who is alleged to have corrupted former PCC General Manager Dennis Kambalame also dealt with former PCC Chairman Davis Kapito and Raphael Kamoto, then PCC deputy general manager among them.
Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) Assistant Director Victor Banda told defence lawyer Kalekeni Kaphale that Nadhi, the alleged owner of Europetrol engaged by PCC alongside three other contracted fuel suppliers, dealt with Kapito and others on other matters not connected to the case against Kambalame.
“I agree that Nadhi dealt with other people at PCC apart from the defendant at different times, but their dealings were on other things not connected to the case at hand,” said Banda to Kaphale’s question why the Bureau did not also suspect the other people of corruption.
But Banda maintained that Kambalame received gratification to award contracts to Europetrol and Humble Energy despite admitting to defence lawyers that his evidence was not based on first hand information.
Challenged by Kaphale with one bank transaction which indicated that Europetrol was paying Kambalame money for freight and not gratification, Banda said the evidence he gave showed that the trucks for which freight charges would have been paid on did not belong to him.
Asked why he believed that the trucks did not belong to Kambalame, ACB investigations officer Vilera Liwonde said his investigations in Tanzania showed they belonged to Al Hashoom Investments Limited (also allegedly belonging to Nadhi family), adding that information gathered on how Kambalame acquired them could not add up.
“Acting in-charge of Motor Vehicle Authority in Tanzania Mrs Mwajad Mbonde showed us papers that two trucks, whose numbers the defendant gave us as TZM 4824 and TZL 9875, were registered by Al Hashoom, while a trailer with a given registration number of TLZ 4660 never existed,” said Liwonde.
“According to the files at Motor Vehicle Register’s Office vehicle TZL 9875 was registered on February 24, 1998. The recorded importer was M. Abdulla General Trading of P O Box Blantyre. It was imported from Netherlands and arrived in Dar es Salaam on December 17, 1997,” said Liwonde.
“The files showed that vehicle TZM 4821 was a used vehicle. It was once registered in Malawi as BK 9993 and was owned by Genuine Motors of P O. Box 76, Blantyre. This is the same address used by Muhammed Nadhi,” he added.
He told the court that while Kambalame told the bureau in his earlier statement that he bought second hand vehicles from a Mr Bruno, Muhammed Nadhi said he is the one who sold the vehicles to Kambalame and they were brand new.
“The other inconsistency is that Kambalame said the vehicles were in Tanzania. While Bruno said the vehicles were moved to Malawi after they were fully paid for. Again Bruno said Kambalame bought them for US120,000 while Nadhi said Kambalame paid US300,000 for them,” said Liwonde.
Asked if Kambalame told the bureau that he registered the vehicles in his name, Liwonde denied. He also agreed with defence lawyer Emilias Dokali that owning the trucks was one thing and registering them was another. He also admitted that in his investigations he did not find corruption evidence.
He also agreed that there was nothing wrong in an individual entrusting his property to another person to administer it on his behalf, but insisted that this theory did not apply on the defendant. He declined to commit himself on whether there existed business relationship not corruption between the Nadhis and Kambalame given a crisscross of money between them.
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