5 NAPSA bosses axed

…as Baobab land saga claims casualties

THE National Pensions Scheme Authority (NAPSA) has

suspended five directors who recently reported to police

that they had been swindled out of K600,000 in a plots scam involving the Baobab land in Lusaka.

NAPSA director general Yollard Kachinda confirmed the suspension in a statement yesterday.

The suspension comes barely four days after police in Lusaka arrested a lawyer Mr Germano Kaulung’ombe and two others for allegedly trying to illegally sell plots to the five directors.

“Recently, five of our directors were offered to buy pieces of land on the stated land, but this matter ended up with the police who are investigating the transaction as a private matter involving the directors in their individual capacities.

“However, in the spirit of transparency and accountability, the authority has asked the five directors involved to step aside in the interim to allow us carry out our investigations to ascertain that our code of ethics was not breached,” Mr Kachinda said. Yesterday Mr Kaulung’ombe and his coaccused, Stanley Tembo and Leonard Mapulanga Nyoni, were at the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court Complex but there was no indictment from the National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) before court on the matter.

Their arrest last week came barely three days after Patriotic Front secretary-general Davies Mwila warned of stern action against anyone using the ruling party’s name to encroach on Baobab land and any other areas around Zambia. Police spokesperson Esther Katongo said the five directors reported to police that they had been swindled out of various amounts of money by Marshal Chambers, a law firm headed by Mr Kaulung’ombe, on the pretext that there was land on sale at Baobab.

Sources close to the transaction named some of the NAPSA directors allegedly swindled by the suspects as Dorothy Soko (director investments), Philip Muyumbana (director projects) and Ronnie Kamanya (director- strategy and business performance).