Agency Report

Zambian graft investigators said Tuesday they had arrested and charged the ex-foreign affairs minister and the former treasury secretary for alleged corruption while serving in the former government.

Joseph Malanji, 56, who served as ex-president Edgar Lungu’s foreign affairs minister between 2018 and 2021, was accused of transferring more than $8.8 million (7.8 million euros) to Zambia’s mission in Turkey without justifying the expense.

He has also been charged with illicitly purchasing properties worth more than $18,900 (16,800 euros) in the capital Lusaka, and a helicopter valued at around $1.4 million (1.2 million euros).

Ex-treasury secretary Fredson Kango Yamba is meanwhile suspected of facilitating the transfer to the Turkish mission.

Yamba “has been released on police bond” while Malanji is still in police custody, Zambia’s Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), which also investigates money laundering, said in a statement.

The pair have not yet commented on the charges.

They face a minimum five-year prison sentence if convicted.

Zambia’s new President Hakainde Hichilema has repeatedly vowed to root out corruption since he defeated Lungu by a landslide in August elections.

He has been critical of “horrifying” levels of graft in the former government, claiming he inherited an empty treasury.

But critics say Hichilema has been slow to act on his promises.

Malanji and Yamba are the first top officials from Lungu’s government held on graft charges since the president took office more than 100 days ago.

The agency in September arrested the state-appointed provisional liquidator of a major copper mine for theft worth nearly $1 million.

Zambia, Africa’s second copper producer, last year became the first country on the continent to default on sovereign debt in the pandemic era.

It clinched an agreement with the International Monetary Fund last week for a $1.4 billion three-year aid programme.

AFP