SWINDLED MAN CRIES
$65, 000 diverted into consultant’s personal account
A LUSAKA businessman, Frank Mphepo has allegedly been swindled out of over US$ 65,000 by a local named procurement consultant after she diverted a payment to her personal account and going into hiding.
AI got in touch with the officer’s superior who told me to go to his office and summoned the same man also. It was at this time that the officer brought out the documents showing that a payment was made but this time to a different account and showed the letter showing that we changed our bank and account details. I asked how they accepted the letter without confirming with me but I was not given satisfactory answers— Mr Mphepo
LUSAKA businessman, Frank Mphepo has allegedly been swindled out of over US$ 65,000 by a local named procurement consultant after she diverted a payment to her personal account and going into hiding. And Mr Mphepo has complained of police inertia in investigating the matter as the officers had failed to apprehend the suspect since July this year when it was reported. He now fears that he could lose his house which he had used as collateral when acquiring a loan to facilitate for supplies. Mr Mphepo’s company, Cubic Innovations had been contracted by the United Nations agency in Zambia to supply assorted items. The female consultant who had been acting as the middle person between Cubic Innovations and the UN agency allegedly changed the bank and account details where the latter was to be depositing payments without the knowledge of the signinatory, Mr Mphepo. According to Mr Mphepo, the female consultant kept on lying to him that the payment for the last consignment was not yet made when unknown to him, she had already received it through her personal account. He however wondered how the UN agency had allowed to changes in the recipient bank details without consulting from him. “The UN agency is well aware that am the proprietor and signatory of Cubic Innovations. The consultant was not even our employee but just a consultant and they accepted a document which showed that the company was now trading as Retail Gear and Equipment and had a different account number,” lamented Mr Mphepo. Mr Mphepo, who strongly suspected that the consultant was working with an insider at the UN agency, said that he started chasing the payment last December, until he decided to make a follow up with the UN department around April this year. He narrated how a named procurement personnel at the UN agency was dilly-dallying in attending to his matter until he reported the situation to his superiors. “I got in touch with the officer’s superior who told me to go to his office and summoned the same man also. It was at this time that the officer brought out the documents showing that a payment was made but this time to a different account and showed the letter showing that we changed our bank and account details. I asked how they accepted the letter without confirming with me but I was not given satisfactory answers,” said Mr Mphepo. Mr Mphepo said that it was at this time that he lost contact with the consultant and she could not be located anywhere. He said that he eventually reported the matter to the police in July this year but was not happy with the pace of investigations, despite some officers showing interest in bringing the suspect to book.