By Cathy Maulidi:
East Bridge local directors have been outside the country for about three weeks now, searching for markets of produce they will get from the Malawi Government, The Daily Times has established.
Recently, the government announced that it had signed a fertiliser deal with Romanian company East Bridge, further indicating that it is a commodity exchange arrangement.
In the deal, Malawi is expected to pay back, in the form of produce, 250,000 metric tonnes (mt) of soya beans at $528 per mt— which translates into $132,000,000 (K132 billion)— and 250,000mt of groundnuts at $725 per mt, costing $181,250,000 (K181.25 billion).
According to information we have sourced, the directors have been to Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda and are now in Beira, Mozambique.
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The directors are Gloria Mphwiyo, Teddy Moya and Likhwa Mussa.
Details at the office of the Registrar General indicate that East Bridge Estate Company shareholders are Haim Tzutziashvili, an Israel national, and George Mantea, Romanian national.
“Yes, we have been travelling,” said one of the directors Likhwa Mussa.
Mussa said their travelling outside Malawi is for business purposes.
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“We have a business to run. We have been going around to look for markets for Malawi commodities [these are commodities] that we are going to sell after supplying the fertiliser to Malawi,” he said.
East Bridge company in Malawi is housed in Mussa’s house in Area 43/383/50 Mkango street, House number 50, Plot number 50.
Meanwhile, civil rights group Forum for National Development has demanded that the government should explain and reveal the main people behind East Bridge deal.
A statement, signed by the group’s chairperson Bright Kampaundi, says there is a need to make full disclosures of the contracts between the company and government.
“It is crucial for the President to address the nation and array the fears that Malawi has lost more money due to business deals linked to fertiliser,” the statement reads.
Reacting to this, government spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu said Malawi will not lose any money in the deal.
The $124.5 million fertiliser deal has raised concerns and suspicions after it was alleged that East Bridge does not deal in fertiliser but pharmaceuticals.
Recently, the Malawi Law Society wrote the Office of the Attorney General, Anti- Corruption Bureau and the Director of Public Prosecutions, asking them to investigate the Ministry of Agriculture’s fertiliser procurement deal with East Bridge Estate.
A letter to the three government agencies, which the society’s president Patrick Mpaka signed and is dated July 4 2023, notes that there appears to be a violation of procurement and public finance management laws.
“[There are violations of laws] starting with apparent failure to obtain certification from the Minister of Finance that funds were available for the procurement going through due diligence to initiation and conduct of procurement proceedings and ending with apparent illegitimacy of the signatures on the agreements,” it reads.
