KCM mine not paid for?

THE “deep state” is panicking over the “shambolic sale of the Konkola Copper Mine and its attendant assets” following public demand for an inquiry into privatization, Citizens Democratic Party has said.

This follows revelations that the Government may not have received any payment from the sale of the mine and assets valued at $2.909Billion.

The mine was handed to Vedanta before consideration was paid, although a $25million is believed to have been injected into working capital and not as consideration for the sale of the mine and assets.

“Where is the $25 million which was paid for the purchase of Konkola Copper Mines and can the nation be told if at the mine was paid for, because now suspected this deal was a major loss for government,” the Citizens Democratic Party president, Robert Mwanza has said.

Mr Mwanza said it was baffling that such a big company could be given for peanuts and without the government receiving anything, as if someone was buying bread.

He wondered what kind of negotiators were involved in the privatization programme and in particular the sale of KCM, which he described as shambolic.

He has demanded that government provides answers on the sale of KCM because the information surfacing was indicative of something seriously wrong.

He said it was recently revealed in court that the sale of KCM to Vedanta at US$25million was a complete fraud because the mine should have been sold at $2.909billion. The Mine was sold under President Levy Mwanawasa. The KCM loss of US$2.884 billion marked the genesis of the mine’s financial problems and further more even the meagre $25 million, Mr Mwanza said.