No forged paper for G&G- witness

T has testi e that the ational o ncil for Construction (NCC) never concluded that G&G Nationwide Zambia Limited had a forged construction ce ti cate Moses Daka, 37, a Registration Officer at NCC, said this in a matter where G&G Director Christopher Banda has been charged with alleged forgery, uttering a false document, and obtaining pecuniary advantage in relation to the works the company was subcontracted to do by China Henan on the Mansa-Luwingu road project. “It was never our conclusion after checking that G&G had forged certificate from NCC. Our office cannot confirm that the certificates are forged. There were no further investigations after the verification exercise,” Mr. Daka said. China Henan and G&G entered into the construction contract on October 14, 2015 and by clause 8 of the said contract, they agreed that any dispute that would arise would be settled by arbitration following good faith negotiations. Sometime in July 2015 a dispute arose which resulted in the appointment of an arbitrator by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Zambia Branch) following a request by G&G. At arbitration, G&G won the matter but China Henan later applied to the High Court to set aside arbitral awards awarded to G&G. However, the High Court dismissed China Henan’s application to set aside the awards and discharged the stay of execution of the awards and arbitral proceedings. Dissatisfied with the High Court ruling, China Henan appealed to the Supreme Court where Judges Albert Wood, Nigel Mutuna, and Mumba Malila on March 7, 2017 upheld the High Court’s decision not to be a misdirection when it held that China Henan’s application to set aside the arbitral awards awarded to G&G was misconceived. But last year China Henan reported Mr. Banda to police on allegations that he used a forged NCC certificate for G&G to win the tender on the Mansa- Luwingu road project, resulting in yesterday’s proceedings before Lusaka Chief Resident Magistrate Lameck Mwale. Trial continues on November 19, 2019.