Transglobe Produce Export Limited may have taken government to court but the multi-billion kwacha maize trader knows fully well that it has the backing of government.
Malawi News can reveal that three state institutions cleared the firm despite the ongoing investigations into its alleged murky dealings in the Zambian maize procurement scandal involving axed Agriculture minister George Chaponda
Both Chaponda and a director of Transglobe, Rashid Tayub, are facing graft charges
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the same institution probing Transglobe, was the first institution to clear the company to participate in the multi billion kwacha fertiliser deal followed by the Attorney General and the Director of Public Procurement.
Surprisingly, both the Attorney General and the ODPP gave their “No Objection” the same day – October 6, 2017
“I wish to confirm that based on the position taken by the ACB and consistent with the Consent Order, you may proceed to award the contract to Transglobe,” the Attorney General’s letter reads in part.
The Director of Public Procurement immediately endorsed that the contract be given to Transglobe based on the consent from ACB
“As regards the matter relating to Transglobe Produce Exports Limited, we can confirm that we have received clearance from relevant legal authorities, consequently ‘’No Objection’’ has been granted for you to award the contract for supply of fertiliser to Transglobe Produce Limited as approved by IPC,” then ODPP Paul Taulo wrote in a letter to the CEO for Smallholder Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRM)
The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture has been a thorn in the flesh of Transglobe Produce Limited.
This week it gave the company 48 hours to vacate the injunction it obtained restraining the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development from carrying any activities relating to the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) .
But Transglobe has remained defiant.
“We are ordering Transglobe, within the next 48 hours, to withdraw the order, failure which, we shall have no option but recommend to the House, as we meet in November, to pass a resolution to bar Transglobe from operating in the country,” chairperson of the committee Joseph Chidanti Malunga warned
The Court Order, which Transglobe obtained last week stopping all activities under Fisp, has the potential of affecting the 900,000 farming families that are earmarked to benefit from this year’s subsidy programme.
With the rains already started, the fears are that the delays would potentially affect next years’ harvest.
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