Gaborone - Former Zambian Information and Broadcasting Services minister Chishimba Kambwili is being investigated on how he accumulated a personal wealth that includes several plush villas and over 500 flats after serving the government for just five years.
Unnamed sources from Zambian State House told the “Lusaka Times” that the former minister was also being investigated for alleged irregularities in the awarding of several government and private sector contracts to his company, Mwamona Investments.
Kambwili is a director of the company, which is registered in Lusaka as a diversified holding with interests in real estate, property development, civil engineering, haulage transport services and of late, milling.
It also trades as Mwamona Invest, operating from Dumela Industrial Sites in Francistown, Botswana. A possible investigation is expected to focus on how the ex-minister is funding the construction of executive blocks of flats in the cities of Ndola, Luanshya and the capital Lusaka.
It would also examine how Kambwili accumulated a pool of 28 personal vehicles in five years, up from the three he had when he joined parliament in 2008, as well as reports that he now owns multiple properties in London, where his family lives.
In terms of alleged construction fraud, Mwamona Investments would be probed for abandoning government projects which included the construction of a market place in the town of Mwense in Luapula Province.
Other projects which were allegedly fully paid for but abandoned as incomplete, include schools, clinics and roads in Luapula. In the process, government was defrauded of up to $30 million.
Zambian Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) spokesman Timothy Moono said they would decide soon on whether or not to investigate the allegations against Chishimba.
African News Agency